Sales are important to you and your company, that’s a given.
However, sales is hard.
I used to work for a telesales company. This was tough work, real tough-guy stuff. There were some women there but the majority of the workforce was made up of swaggering loudmouths who wanted to prove they could make money in a heartbeat.
At the start, my swagger was developing, but I definitely had a loud mouth. I would hit the phones early, pitching advertising space to Europe because they had the extra hour ahead of us. While most people were gulping down their breakfasts, I was trying to sell a box ad to an airport management team in Madrid.
It felt real. Like real sales. We were on commission only and I was, for a few weeks at least, making the money.
About four months into the job, the swagger was developing well, but then I hit the wall. I lost my leads due to my handling the pitch too heavy one day, being too meek and mild the next. It wasn’t working out so I left.
I never did sales like that again.
In business though, you have to sell. Sales is what drives your company. Whether it is a pitch to a client via email, or an offer to a customer through a newsletter, you are always selling if you own a company. You are always trying to make a sale.
But sales is hard.
Get real about your selling
You need to accept a few things when you sell. That you can’t win them all is one. The very best of the best have ten misses for every hit. And they’ll tell you that.
You also have to do it right every time. If you don’t you start to feel bad. Your self esteem drops, you start to get into poor technique issues. And poor technique lingers.
Here’s a video from arguably the greatest sales professional of all time. Watch it, take notes.
It’s less than seven minutes long and tells you all you need to know about selling.
You don’t need books, or six week courses, or even talent.
Just do what the man says, again and again.
This way you, and your company, will sell.
Until next time, work smart.
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