A business must have a product or a service to sell that people want. Yet, have you seen salespeople trying to deny they sell something? I often hear small business owners and many distributors with direct selling companies deny the fact that they sell.
Consistently I run into distributors from different direct sales companies and almost always notice that they are very excited about their products, services and the compensation plan their business opportunity offers.
They truly believe in the opportunity and loved their products. However, when it comes to selling the products, most of them say something along these lines:
- We are not like Amway or Mary Kay or one of those sales based network marketing companies. We just show people how they can save money on things they are already using and that's all. We don't sell.
- We don’t really sell anything… we just help people get the best value for their money because they are using these products anyway.
- In my business, we don't need to sell anything. People just love to use our products.
Then, there are those who aspire to become entrepreneurs. How do I know? Well, many reach out to our Krishna World Wide Team for mentorship. Interestingly, many of these folks do not want to do a business that involves sales. They want to be in business for themselves, they can design websites… have great ideas for software products etc., but they do not like the idea of selling.
It is amazing just to imagine how these sharp and ambitious individuals can even allow such a mental block that prevents them from succeeding. Yes, the methods are perhaps different, but that doesn't mean that there exists a business that has no concept of selling!
When it comes to winning without intimidation, I can't think of any better person than Bob Burg. He is my favorite in that domain for sure! His book, Go Givers Sell More encapsulates many great insights about the sales process. He wrote a blog post a few months ago with the title "Embrace Your Inner Salesperson". I encourage you to go ahead and read that article.
When I came to own a business, the first thing I needed to learn was, I need to sell and until I do that, no matter how wonderful the product or the service I provided, I can't succeed. Therefore, I started to study sales books, seminars and also started networking with successful business owners who had all the success I desired. I continue to do these things on a daily basis and make sure that I learn at least one new thing about running business everyday. It keeps me inspired to look forward to another better day!
With time, what I realized was – business owners are not the only people who need to do selling. In fact, students, teachers and the employees from all industries need these skills. Interestingly, those with better understanding of sales are a little bit more successful in their careers than those who don't.
I love this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson:
Everyone lives by selling something.
Question: What comes to your mind when you think of Sales or the idea of selling? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Brother Kumar, thank you for another enlightening post where you put wisdom into words in an always easily understandable manner that your readers can immediately implement. And, as always, I’m honored and delighted whenever being referred to in your posts.
Thank you so much Bob. You have been always in inspiration to me when it comes to people skills and business development. This post is just another example of the things I have learnt from you by just observing.
It is my honor that you found this post useful. Thank you so much once again!
It is my honor to have a few words of appreciation from you, Bob. Thank you very much for being a great example for many people including me to follow.
Your books have always taught me some terrific lessons on people skills and business development. Thanks again for always being uplifting, always blessing with those empowering words.
My thoughts on your posting Kumar is that if someone has something to sell, they need to be up front about it. Nobody can expect to enjoy a meaningful relationship based upon duplicity. Nor will they earn any respect.
For me all sales have their roots in SERVICE, but not all services need be sold. Some are bartered and others are donated. Sales are about human needs and the fulfillment of them.
We learn to be salespeople from an early age. From the very first time you asked, “Mommy, may I have a cookie?” you were selling yourself. When you exuberantly raised your hand in class so the teacher would call upon you for THE answer, you were promoting yourself.
If you are called for an interview (i.e. job, radio, television) invariably you’ll be involved in selling yourself. In any case, TOTAL TRANSPARENCY and a SERVANT HEART are what sells.
We continue to sell ourselves. For example, I aspire to be a GREAT humanitarian. I expect that by BEING the very best I can be in my relationships with others that they will buy into my vision
as one that is also necessary for themselves.
Some people involved in sales see every person as a potential “target” to be acquired.How often have you walked into a furniture store or were looking for a new car and were immediately accosted by several sales people? For me, SALES is first and foremost about relationships.What I learned from operating my own successful computer company years ago, is that theCUSTOMER IS KING! It may takes years to cultivate a customer but only seconds to lose one.TRUST is a privilege and needs to be earned. With an upcoming novel, I will soon be involved in the pre-marketing campaign. My aim is to add value to others by contributing fresh perspectives, insights, and life lessons seldom thought about. That’s what I’ll be selling.
Very insightful thoughts, Bill. Transparency, honesty and building trust is an important aspects of the sales process like you rightly said.
However, it is difficult to have those quality of the person selling doesn’t have the understanding of the sales process, I believe. Until the salesperson is proud of what he or she is selling, it is difficult to be successful at adding value to others. When we take time to understand what we are doing and embrace the responsibility to be great at what we have to offer, success is inevitable.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. Appreciate your inputs.
Hi Kumar,
Excellent post. I have started my new business recently and I am very excited about making it big. I have seen your posts and very much motivated about things that you say.
I am learning sales process as I do not have a background. Will you recommend any books that may help me in the beginning?
Thanks
I am honored to learn that you think my posts are that much motivating, Suresh. Thank you.
There are plenty of great books out there. However, just to name a few, I would recommend some I read initially. You may find them interesting too:
1. Double Your Contacts: What Every Network Marketer Needs to Know About Making Contacts and Booking Appointments – by Michael J. Durkin
2. Go-Givers Sell More -by Bob Burg
3. Endless Referrals, Third Edition -by Bob Burg
Hope you enjoy these books. They are great to understand and improve your skills with people, networking and sales.
This is a very important concept about sales that most people misunderstand. Whenever the word sales comes, we tend to visualize a car salesman and therefore the negative feeling about the word.
But if we really try to understand, sales is about adding value to other people by means of our services or the products. we spend hours every week educating and reinforcing this concept in the minds of those we coach here.
Thank you for your mentorship and continued support. We are making good progress and keeping the Krishna World Wide banner high in India!
Great Mayank! We are very proud of your leadership. Keep up the great work!