Sales Is Not a Four Letter Word

Obviously, for anyone with rudimentary spelling skills, sales is not a four-letter-word. What is the point, you ask? The stereotyped image of the slick-talking used-car salesman is often what people outside our profession imagine when they think of salespeople. They may actually think that salespeople are out to take advantage of them.

Sales as a career and those individuals associated with it have frequently ranked at the bottom of the desirable career food chain along with lawyers and used car dealers. Why is this? Is it a bum-rap or one well-deserved? How does this perception affect the fledgling salesperson? Are there pre-conceived notions found nagging in the back of our prospect's mind? Maybe.

Sales is an honorable profession, yet one often associated with less than scrupulous people. It is no wonder that the only lawyers have witnessed more jokes associated with their field. There is no reason to be ashamed of for being a salesperson. In fact, you can make the claim of being a professional salesperson with great pride, as long as you are actually just that.  Did you know that many salespeople are highly respected and among the highest paid of professionals?

In order to be a part of that elite group of true sales professional, the credentials often displayed are typically not earned from any university. They are in fact values and beliefs deeply internalized and ingrained in one's character. The resulting behaviors are what prospects and clients actually interact with. These traits can be summarized in a few points, all of which are necessary to become a standout in our profession:

1. Integrity
2. Empathy
3. Honesty
4. Solution-Oriented
5. Service-Oriented
6. Unselfish
7. Value Oriented

Look at each carefully with honest scrutiny. Evaluate yourself and ask several trusted friends or associates to evaluate you as well, using each trait as the reference. How do you score? Select someone in your field, an associate or competitor, that you admire and respect, subjecting them to the same scrutiny. How does your score compare?

If you are found lacking in any of these areas, you need to get to work. Keep in mind that you are a work in progress, a diamond in the rough, an ever-evolving entity. Notice that traits such as product and industry knowledge, social comfort zone and oratory skills are further down the list, not even making the top seven. While important, they are far less so than your character traits.

This exercise is designed to show that YOU are much more important than the WHAT in your field. Master these seven traits and your success is guaranteed, no matter your market, industry or state of the economy.

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...........................
Daniel Sitter
Author

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Comments

[Robyn]

Hi Dan, somehow I think of the insurance people when I think of salespeople. I think it's because we buy their promises and in many instances they don't deliver when you think you're covered. It might be your health insurance, car insurance, or house insurance. Many of these salespeople give sales a bad rep.

Like you, I look for people I trust with plenty of honesty and integrity, and a generous dose of empathy. Thanks for a wonderful post.

[MrPositioning.com (Stanley Bronstein)]

The best way to become a good salesperson is to find a way to ALWAYS offer something of value to your target audience. AND, when I say something of value, I mean something they value, NOT something that you think they should value or you're trying to convince them they should value.

IF you offer something of value, you WILL be a highly successful salesperson.

Mr. Positioning
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney, CPA, Author and Professional Motivational Speaker

[Lewis Green]

Daniel,

Good post. At the end of the day, no matter the profession, it is about people (the who) not the products and services (the what). Values matter. So do trust and credibility. Keep it coming, my friend.

[Niall Devitt]

Enjoying reading this post and compliments on a super blog. Keep up the good work.