Sales 101
- Comments: 6
What do you sell? Whether you sell a product or just your ideas, you are selling. Most of us have had a bad experience with a salesperson consequently, we don’t want to associate ourselves with the word “sales.” All of us are constantly selling ourselves, and as business owners, we should have some concept of how to sell correctly. While I, by no means consider myself an expert, I would like dialogue about what I have learned.
My Experience
I have been a salesperson for the past 4 years, and I consider the experience very valuable. Not only have a learned how to sell a product, but in the meantime, I have learned a great deal about the people who I sell to. I have worked at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, Circuit City, Sprint, and now JP Morgan Chase.
Those of us who have been involved in sales for any extended period of time have witnessed many different types of personalities, and methods used by our fellow sales associates. I have seen individuals who I assumed would not be able to sell anything make great numbers. I also have seen those whom I thought would be great fail miserably.
What Do Sales People Do Wrong?
Most often that not, those who don’t sell well also give salespersons, in general, a bad reputation. These type of salespersons think that selling is simply telling. They are horribly wrong. One of the most crucial characteristics of an effective salesperson is her/her ability to listen carefully to their customers.
Most people do not enjoy being told what to do, especially when making a purchasing decision. If the sales person was asking questions about what the customer wanted instead of telling them what to buy, the associate would have been more likely to make the sale and the customer would have walked away satisfied. Listening is one of the most overlooked steps in the sales process.
What You Can Do
My advice to anyone trying to sell anything is put yourself in the customers shoes. We are all customers at some point. Do we want to be told what to buy? No. We want the salesperson to listen to us, care about our wants and needs, then make a recommendation based on their knowledge and what we said. This would be a more pleasurable experience for both people.
I believe that every business transaction should be a win-win situation. Meaning, that every party involved should benefit from the interaction. This is the basis of my sales philosophy.
This is the first of many posts on the topic of sales. I would you to share the experience you have had with salespersons, both good and bad, for the benefit of my readers, as well as to further develop my own understanding of consumers in relation to sales. Tell me what you think!
I always said to myself that I hate the sales field and would never have a job doing it, but you are correct when you say that if you are selling ideas, you are a salesperson. I need to get a fresh perspective on the concept.
I always hated salesmen coming to my door, but a salesman who works as a b2b specialist is the other thing.
By the way, Josh, you’ve mentioned your were with Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, right? I remember their commercial about they will deliver the rental car to your house for free… However, when I was in need of a car and called them from the hospital, they’ve refused to do so… I was in shock and went with another company, who did it happily without any commercials
I’ve met numerous people with the same thought as you. It is important to learn from your experiences in order better yourself. When selling information you would still benefit from taking into account your potential customers point of view.
It is difficult to make door-to-door sales less invasive. You were probably outside Enterprise’s pick-up area but within the pick-up area of the other company.
oooooh I worked at Enterprise too in another life. It was actually a good experience. Very humbling when you have to wash a car in your tie. For those that don’t know even the inside sales staff has to wash a car if they get backed up outside.
Custom Car Reviews…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…