"Being" a Salesperson

For all you movie buffs out there, Robert Zemekis produced his only “R” rated movie in 1980. It was called “Used Cars” and it starred Kurt Russell, Jack Warden and a bunch of other movie greats. I won’t go into the details, but it’s a classic for anyone rounding that 40 year old mark like I did today. 

Although the memorable quotes are innumerable, one sticks out in my mind as a classic example of the interpretation we have about salespeople:

Barbara Jane Fuchs (Salesperson played by Deborah Harmon): “Come down and see the mile of cars we have on our lot.”

Rudy (Salesperson played by Kurt Russell): “Did she just say ‘mile of cars’? Yes she did - she said ‘mile of cars’.”

Big Jim (Mechanic played by Frank McRae): “Most blatant case of false advertising I ever did see.”

How many times have we been on the receiving end of a “less than truthful” statement from a salesperson? Or felt that we’ve been manipulated, cajoled or hood-winked? Unfortunately, it’s likely been the case for all of us at least once in our lives.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Yeah Preston. Let those salespeople have it! They’re a no-good lot of hucksters and liars!” If you ARE thinking this, then you might be in for a surprise. If you’re NOT thinking this, then you’re likely just like me…a salesperson.

So consider this – there is no such thing as a “non-salesperson”. If you are living, breathing and asking for favors, support, assistance, gratitude, credit or recognition, THEN YOU ARE SELLING! We are all salespeople in every moment of every day. We sell ourselves on what we’ll look like in that dress (at least I do). We’ll sell our neighbor on why it’s a good idea put his dog inside after 9pm. We’ll sell our spouse on why it’s such a great time of year to vacation in Florida. Sell, sell, and sell.

Are you completely disempowered yet? If no, great! If yes, then what is the disempowerment? What interpretation of “salesperson” is it that has you stuck?

Ah-ha. That’s the key word – interpretation. It’s our interpretations of salespeople that have us avoid them and even avoid selling altogether. That may be just fine for many people, but “avoiding selling” for those of us in sales can be deadly.

For those of us who sell for a living and struggle from time to time (or frequently) with being a salesperson, consider that we’ve been taught A LOT of sales skills and techniques that are intended for us to be more successful. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. Typically they work REALLY well when they don’t “look” like skills or techniques.  

The trick is to use them so they don’t look like “skills or techniques”. The last thing I ever want a prospect to say is, “I know what you’re doing. That’s that ‘overcoming objection’ closing that I just can’t stand!” Ouch, if that doesn’t hurt, I don’t know what does.

So what is there to do about this? Nothing. Consider it’s more about how to “be” about it. Consider the more you “do” the more you’ll look like a salesperson, the more you’ll begin to reject all the great sales skills and techniques you have in your toolbox, and the more you’ll become frustrated with selling in general.

“Being” salesperson is far different from “doing” salesperson. Confused yet? Perhaps some ideas will clear things up.

During the past 15 years, I’ve been a sales manager, sales trainer and salesperson in various industries.  After finding my true vocational love, I’m now a salesperson who offers executive and business coaching services.  I’ve also been a buyer of products and services.  My experience DOES NOT make me an expert and it’s provided some great learning.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Assimilation is a powerful but missing concept in the world of sales “learning” – I call this an “either/or” context.  One common mistake salespeople make is to avoid reading or studying sales books and ideas so as to not “seem so sales-ee”.   That’s one way to go.  Another is TO READ sales books and ideas and take time to discover how to assimilate some, all or none of the ideas into WHO YOU ARE.  Ask questions like, “How would that sound coming out of my mouth? If a close friend of mine said that to me, would I feel threatened or manipulated?” Practice the skills and techniques you learn about in “non-selling” situations: the library, the grocery store, and with your family (if you’re really brave – your mother-in-law too). There are some great ideas to be gotten if we open ourselves up to the concept of assimilation.
   
   
2. Doing vs. being – in a recent blog post, a colleague of mine commented on “being my authentic business self” when in a sales role.  In the world of “doing”, we consistently search for the next “best” way to sell, the next “best” book to read, and the next “best” thing to say.  What if we were to read sales books, invest in sales training, practice sales techniques in the real world, then throw all of that away and just BE WHO WE NATURALLY ARE?  This may be a stretch for some readers, but I recently had a client who went from “selling techniques” and projecting “salesperson” to projecting LOVE and COMPASSION with prospective clients.  This client has made more money in the past three months than in the past four years.  
   
   
3. Finally, I’ll share two ideas that recently came up in a conversation with a colleague of mine:
   
   
4. Consider that “you don’t get clients by going out and looking for them; you get clients by making yourself available to attract them by being in action.”  Here’s what I mean - When we go out and look for clients, we often inadvertently fall into the “salesperson” mode (remember our interpretations of THAT word?).  If we were to just focus on “being in action” (having conversations, meeting new people, making requests, networking), we would be making ourselves available to the people who want, need and are looking for what we have to offer.  They will find us without us ever having to sell.
   
   
5. Consider “faith is being willing to move forward without the knowledge or proof that it will work.”  Here’s what I mean on this one – Focusing only on sales techniques can put us in a place of trying to “get the knowledge” so as to “create the proof” that our sales actions will produce results.  Again, this may have us project “salesperson” to our prospects.  Practice “having faith” that who you are, the existing knowledge you have, and the “sales process” you currently use is absolutely PERFECT AND SUFFICIENT to generating more business.

Sales training, techniques and strategies are powerful experiences and tools for any of us to have.  Everyday I go out and sell my services, my prospects NEVER think I’m a salesperson and some TOTALLY think I’m a salesperson.  My conclusion is this – it’s not the sales training or skills I have that create the impression, it’s WHO I’M BEING in the conversation.  When I’m desperate or have a need that I want to get filled, I project salesperson.  When I share compassion, love, understanding, possibility and discovery with my prospects, they buy from me and say “You are SO NOT a salesperson”.

Go get some sales training. Go buy some popular sales books. Talk to your friends and family who sell for a living. Collect as much information and learn as many skills as you can. Then come back to who you are, why people are attracted to you in the first place, and acknowledge yourself for being the PERFECT salesperson just as you are.

No “miles of cars” for you – just “miles of being”.

Happy Selling,

-Preston