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I love this topic. If you’ve ever read any sales ‘how to’ books or magazines, you’ve undoubtedly come across many definitions of what sales is or isn’t. Some are basic, some are in-depth, and many are philosophical in nature.
I’m going to explain what selling really IS, and what it IS NOT!
Our simple definition of what selling is:
Selling is getting someone to buy something from you!
Our simple definition of what selling IS NOT:
EVERYTHING ELSE
We call all the other stuff “NSA” or “Non-sales related Activities.” For example, selling is not:
1) Organizing your desk
2) Talking to your associates, managers, friends
3) Taking people to lunch to build a “relationship”
4) Making a zillion “cold-calls” to find ONE interested party (more about
this one later)
5) Driving 14 hours a day to go to an appointment
6) Doing “paperwork”
7) Doing “customer service stuff”
Now are some NSA items necessary? SURE! But if you really want to succeed in sales, the first rule that you HAVE to understand is:
If you’re not “trying to persuade someone to buy something, you’re not really selling!”
Our most successful sales people understand this. In fact, they’ll do EVERYTHING possible to “punt” the Non-Sales Related Activities so that they can CLOSE MORE DEALS!
We’ve come to QUICKLY identify the “Real Sales People” from all the other
people. The Real Sales People LOVE the thrill of the sale. They love to be “pitching” people on the phone or in-person. They usually hate the NSA stuff. In fact, (myself included,) True Sales People often get so caught-up in the “hunt,” that they often TOTALLY neglect ALL THE OTHER STUFF! Probably explains why so many awesome salespeople’s cars are always a mess, they usually are forgetful about the details, and really need awesome support people following them around cleaning up the mess!
On the flip side, the “Non-Sales People” are usually the opposite. They may think they want to be a sales person, but these people usually LOVE to spend most of their time becoming experts at the Non-Sales Related Activities. They LOVE to clean their desk. They LOVE to find a good customer and visit them three times a week to “build that special relationship.” They LOVE to fill out the paperwork (even though their numbers are usually low,) and they don’t mind spending hours talking to associates or “getting advice” from their sales manager.
Put a Non-Sales Person in a car with a Real Sales Person for the day and it’s like trying to mix oil with water!
WHAT KIND OF “SALES PERSON” ARE YOU?
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