As an entrepreneur and former “professional” salesperson (it’s weird to say that because as an entrepreneur I’m a pro salesperson by default, but you know what I mean), I’ve forgotten more sales content (books, articles, etc) than most people will ever read in their lifetime. And I’m not proud to say that.
For the longest time, I lived in the sinister hole of believing that I was bad at sales, and that I needed to learn the tips and tricks of the trade to get “better.”
What made it worse is that depending on who you listen to, there are vastly different opinions on what makes a great salesperson. A lot of sales coaching out there honestly makes me want to puke (not because I know more than they do, but because it just feels manipulative and shitty human behaviour).
Like everything, there’s an 80-20 rule. The basics are the most important, and coincidentally if you just practice the basics at a very high level, you will usually outperform everyone else.
So here are the basics of sales that I’ve identified, which I’m happy to practice for the rest of my life.
The basics of sales — what I’d teach my younger self
If you’ve ever highly recommended a product or service to a friend or family member (whether it was a book, a video game, a movie, a doctor or plumber, a restaurant, etc)… then you already have the foundation to be a world-class salesperson.
I kid you not.
The emotional state you’re in when you genuinely recommend something to someone, knowing that it will be beneficial to them, is the single biggest aspect to success in sales that I’ve found.
You recognize that feeling — the confidence, the faith and certainty that it will help the other person, the detachment from the result (you don’t even have to remind yourself that if they reject the recommendation, it’s nothing personal), the adaptation on the spot (if you realize during the conversation that the recommendation isn’t right for them, you either adjust or move on) — all these things happen naturally in that emotional state.
Selling, but without selling – the holy grail.
How do you get into that emotional state about a new product or service?
Let’s invert — how to make sure that you don’t get into that state?
- You don’t know anything about the product in the first place, where it shines compared to the competition, or who it’s really good for.
- You don’t know the person you’re even talking to.
So if you don’t know the product, and don’t know the person, you have no chance in hell.
The correction is simple — learn about the product and the prospect until you can tap into that emotional state on command, the way you could do for your favourite gaming mouse or something.
The non-sleazy, honest sales game is inherently a cooperation between yourself and the customer. When you do sales this way, you feel no guilt or awkwardness, because you’re no longer creating an adversarial relationship with the other person.
Try it.
This article is from my codex.
