Sales, more than anything else, is about attitude.
We had a salesman a few years ago. He told me that he could tell if a customer
would buy our sinks just by driving by and looking at their shop. It turns out
he got so good at this process that he found he could recognize these same
customers who would not buy from the golf course. And he was right. Every
customer, he did not visit, did not buy.
The Number One Rule in Small Business Sales is:
You do not need to like it but you do need to do it!
Sales is about determining what customers need
and want then fitting your
product into the needs and wants. Find
out what the customer wants and give it to them. Make them want it before you talk
price and you will close more sales.
Why do
most business owners hate sales.?
1.
Sales people in general have a very poor
reputation, much of it earned. It is easy to dislike many sales people. The
problem is not with all salespeople but that many sales practitioners are not
professionals but merely long time amateurs who occasionally stumble on a sale.
A true salesperson does not have slicked back hair, wear shiny suits, or
a sport ton of gold rings and chains. A true salesperson does not lie, push or
misrepresent. A true sales person dresses like their customer, is polite and
helpful and always places the customers
interest first.
2.
Business
owners started on the production side of the business. They started the
business because they could make stuff better not because they could
sell stuff better. More often than not they fought with the sales people as the
production concerns conflicted with the desires of the sales department.
3.
If a
business owner hates sales it is unlikely they dislike everything about
sales. It is more likely they hate the preconceived image they have about sales
people or they hate some part of the process. Maybe they like talking to the
customers but they hate overcoming objections.
When I owned my home building business I was able to close 8 out of 10
prospects I talked with. The problem was I did not have enough prospects
because I was not comfortable prospecting. I worked on every part of my sales
process except the part I needed to work on.
