Salespeople–What Are They Good For?

• The slick car salesman twisting your arm about buying a car
• The salesperson that leaves useless daily messages on your voice mail and fills up your in-box with email
• The helpful clerk in the store locating an item for you
• The doctor trying to convince you to take your medicine everyday
• The teacher trying to tell your child the value of doing his or her homework

We encounter quite a few salespeople and, in various ways, we are all in sales—trying to “sell” our ideas to our family, friends and associates.

Salespeople often get a bad rep because of how they are portrayed in movies or because of bad personal experiences with pushy people.  However, salespeople  can be of help too.

What a good salesperson will do for you:

• Tell you about new products that you may not currently know about but that might make your life easier
• Stay aware of the marketplace and cull valuable information for you
• Help you decide between various options so that you pick the best for you
• Act as your advocate with her company because you go to her for support

People get into sales for various reasons.  They think they will make a lot of money, they like to control their own schedule, they prefer talking to people during the day versus doing reports or projects and so on.  But these rationales are all self-centered.  Salespeople who get into the role with these kinds of objectives will find their careers disappointing and stressful.  Sales is challenging, as you have to find the right audience who is ready to focus on your products and offers.  It takes a while to find each opportunity and there are long periods where there doesn’t seem to be any progress.  If salespeople focus solely on themselves, they will ride an emotional roller coaster and are likely to fail.

The best approach is to focus on clients, the value you can bring them and your desire to help them succeed.  That attitude will resonate with your prospects, differentiate you and increase your chances of winning business. Always remember, when you are a salesperson, you speak not just for yourself but for your entire company. Everyone in the company works for the clients you bring in and your success is essential to theirs.

So there are two good reasons to go into sales. One, if you believe in your product and really think it will help solve people’s problems. Two, you want to help people and are willing to go far and wide to help them find the solution they need. My advice to you:

• If you are currently a salesperson, enjoy every day and build value for all your clients and prospects.
• If you are one of the prospects a salesperson is contacting, manage the relationship so that it fits your goals and objectives.  Be open-minded opportunities—you never know when great ones will arise and make you look like a hero.
• If you are one of the production team members or staff partners, support the sales team and think what you can do in your role to help them and the clients.  Everybody in an organization has to drive value to the customers, just like the salespeople do.  That way everybody wins.

Do you know any good salespeople? What sets them apart?  If you are in sales, what has been the secret of your success?

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