Top 10 Myths about Selling

You cannot sell to everyone you meet!

Whilst the vast majority of sales people only sell to 15 – 25% of the people they present to, it is not universally true. It is not unheard of for new people who are sent out into the big bad world without having had any form of training sell to virtually everyone they meet... This can be explained by their enthusiasm. Selling has been defined as an exchange of enthusiasm.

However, this is not the only reason. More often it is because they have not been exposed to the training which tells them they will only sell to 1 in 5, or that “It’s hard out there!” So their naivety works in their favour as nobody has told them they are not supposed to sell to everyone.

So the solution is to learn your trade but retain the attitude that you are simply meeting the prospect to decide which of your products or services they are going to purchase. Approach each sales meeting positively and you will be amazed at the achievements you are capable of.

You need the gift of the gab.

Many people, outside of sales, only notice/remember the salesmen/women they see that are fast talking, confident business people. This is not a true picture of the majority of sales people.

In selling you need to talk less than your prospective client. You need to be asking questions and listening to the answers. If you talk too much you are likely to be talking yourself out of a sale rather than the reverse. Sales people should always remember that we have two ears and just one mouth, and they should be used in that ratio.

The reason people only see the fast talkers, is that the vast majority are quietly getting on with their job and actually selling correctly by listening and NOT saying very much.

You have to wear a suit

If you are selling to Commerce then the uniform of choice is the suit. But that is not true for all sales people. How would you react if a ‘Creative’ turned up in a suit? Yes, it may be appropriate but equally if they turned up in Jeans etc most people would find that acceptable and the appropriate uniform for the role.

IBM spent many $millions researching what their sales staff should wear to maximise their chances of successfully selling to their clients. They came up with Black Highly polished shoes, Black Socks, Dark Suit, White Shirt and Red Tie. There were other findings but the essence is as described. So if the suit is the correct uniform of choice then you should consider this research.

However, if my local builder turned up at my home to price a small job I needed doing then I would be surprised if they turned up in a suit. So it is more about what is acceptable in your industry rather that suits are a must. However, the larger the company the more likely that the sales force will be expected to wear suits.

People don’t like sales people

If this was true, nobody would buy anything and companies would never employ sales people. There is a well proven saying “People buy from People they like”.

What people don’t like are bad and pushy sales people.

As a sales person it is your job to identify what the client wants or needs and to show them how your product or service achieves this. That is to say, identify the problem and find a solution. The bad sales person has a problem (needs to sell their product/service) and sees the prospective client as the solution. In other words they have themselves as the highest priority, whereas the good sales people have their clients’ best interests uppermost in their minds.

If sales people do their job right they are liked not hated. Estate Agents (Realtors) are liked when they sell our home or find us our ideal home. Life Insurance Salesmen are loved if their client dies and the widow/widower is left with enough money to maintain their standard of living. So remember what you are really selling, the benefit, and concentrate on that and you will be liked not hated.

You don’t have to work hard

When other members of staff see a sales person, he or she is just chatting to clients and prospects, whilst they are slaving in the Warehouse, over a machine or with piles of paper to be processed. To them he has an easy life.

But as any sales person will tell you there is more to selling than simply chatting with clients and prospects.

Selling can be considered a very negative role as most soon discover that more people say No to them than Yes. So sales people have to live with rejection every day of their working life. Not many would willingly spend their life being rejected just for the occasional acceptance. But sales people do and thrive on it.

A Good Salesperson can sell anything!

There are two basic types of sales people, those who sell concepts and those that sell things.

A Conceptual Sales Person, like an Insurance Broker (IFA), would have difficulty in selling products or things. They are comfortable with selling ‘services’ or ‘concepts’. The selling skills or methodology are different for these two sectors.

Yes, they are both selling and similar skills are needed for each role, and no it does not mean that a seller of products could not sell services, just that they will be more successful selling products.

Like all Myths, the reason for their continuation is the element of truth that it contains. But the truth misleads in this case. To start to sell for a new Industry or a new business there will be a learning curve and that learning curve can be long or short and is dependent upon the individual.

For the best professional sales people another key factor to their success is their belief in the product or service. For them to sell another product or service they must have a commitment to that product to repeat the levels of success.

It is best to make the best sales person your Sales Manager

The skills needed for a good sales person are not the same for those necessary to make a good Sales Manager. Yes, they need to understand the selling process and the selling skills needed, but that is not what makes a good Sales Manager.

A Sales Manager, though senior to the sales person is also in a supportive role for the sales team. They are there to help the Sales Team become more successful. They have a responsibility to the organisation and are obliged to follow organisational policy and direction. However, they must implement that policy and direction in a way that best assists their team to be better at selling the organisations products and services.

A sales persons’ role is a selfish role, in that they must be primarily interested in their own performance. Whereas the Sales Manager is successful by the performance of his team both individually and as a whole. He must concentrate his efforts for others benefit rather than for his own benefit. These differences make it unlikely that the top sales people will make the best Sales Managers.

Selling is not a Profession

What do we mean by ‘Professional’? To many it the process of going through a long period of on the job and theory training/learning, culminating in an examination. Only the passers of that examination can then call themselves ‘Professionals’, like Solicitors, Accountants and Doctors. Hence they are members of a ‘Profession’.

To others ‘Professional’ means those who are at the top of their trade. They are the best. In this case the job is not a Profession it is some individuals are professionals.

Technically Professional can also be a description of a role that you do to earn a living. That is you are paid to do the job. In this case all jobs that are paid are Professions.

If we look at The Sales Role, we do see a long period of training and learning, both on the job and in the classroom, but only a few industries have an examination at any point in time. At least not a formal examination. However, the market place is a Sales Persons Examination. To fail this examination normally involves a Job Termination.

Therefore, I suggest that a tried and tested Sales Person, who have devoted effort to know their trade and spends time studying it is a Professional and therefore the role as a Sales Person is a Profession.

It takes years before you earn a good living!

As in any job, you have to learn your trade before you are likely to earn significant sums. However, unlike other jobs, you do not have to extensive knowledge to make money or even to make lots of money.

Selling is essentially an easy job. You locate people who want or need your product explain how it fulfils that need or want and then get them to take action.

Obviously selling some products or services requires technical knowledge and the acquisition of that knowledge can take time. However, that is not true for the majority of products and services. I heard a story about the introduction of safety glass to the American Market. This salesman took a sample into Glaziers and hit it with a heavy mallet and then asked “How much do you want?” People were so amazed they purchased in droves and he became the best salesman in the company by far.

His technical knowledge was very basic. He was told this glass would not break. So he realised that this would be the reason people would buy, so he simply proved it to them physically.

So neither age nor experience has anything to do with success. Nor does education, colour, sex or any factor other than being able to sell.

Women are better sales people than men!

Like Men, Women make excellent sales people, and yes some are better than men, but equally some men are better than some women.

Women do have advantages than men, but men also have advantages over women. We have to be careful of generalisations so I am avoiding ‘Feminine Intuition’ and the like as they are too general to base any argument upon. However, the fact that women have been discriminated against over the millennia can be an asset. It drives some women to out-perform their male counter parts. But it also has it’s drawbacks as it can make a women, in the eyes of some men, seem more like a man and can generate animosity.

For some reason women seem to be better at asking questions and building rapport. It could be based on a number of things but I feel it is gender role based. Women have had to be supportive historically so the less aggressive skills such as asking questions are more naturally part of their make up. But care should be taken in case we slip into gender stereotypes and are led off the facts.

Without trying to be sexist women can be better at selling to some male dominated industries. This is not universal.

The basic answer is that it is the person not their sex that makes individuals good, bad or indifferent at selling. However, we can all get better at selling by learning the trade and applying what you learn.