“Oh, I could never be in sales!”

How many times have you heard people say that? And how many of them do you suppose realize that they are in sales?

Of course most people don’t think of themselves as “salesmen.” But the fact of the matter is, virtually every profession – indeed virtually every human action – has a strong component of salesmanship. From doctors, to lawyers, to contractors, to teachers, every single person must sell himself, sell his ideas, and sell his services to whomever his clients happen to be.

As sales people, we’re just more honest about what we do. We craft specific value propositions for our prospects, we explain why it’s in their best interest to work with us, and we clearly define the costs and benefits of doing so. How does that differ from asking for a date…or convincing your colleagues to get pizza for lunch? Not too much.

It’s true that few children say, “I really want to grow up to be a salesman!” But the reality is that all of our education and all the formative events of our lives move us in the direction of persuasion and accommodation. So let’s hear it for the honesty of the sales person!

Most sales people have faced this moment of terror: Your prospect asks you a detailed and important question about your product, your company, or the business that you are in. And you have absolutely no idea what the answer is.

Here’s the wrong response: Panic.

It’s true that you should strive to understand your company’s products, your customer’s business, and the key value propositions that bring those two together. But no one in the world expects you to know every possible detail about all those things.

Unfortunately, many sales people think they simply must have an answer to every question. They hem and haw. They backpedal and obfuscate. They do the old soft shoe. They make stuff up.
Here’s a better solution: Say, “That’s a great question – and I’m not really sure of the answer.” This response shows that you are human. Best of all, it gives you the opportunity to follow up with and provide further value to your prospect.

Sounds like a win-win all around.

The “Happiness Paradox” of John Stewart Mill states that, “Only those are happy…who have their mind fixed on something other than their own happiness.”

In other words, attempting to grasp hold of the thing you desperately desire is almost certain to make it slip from your grasp.

Countless sales people suffer from something similar. I call it the “Commission Paradox.” Or perhaps the “Quarterly Goal Paradox.” They become so fixated on making their numbers and/or cashing their checks that they forget to employ the basic strategies of selling.

More to the point, if you are focused on your own narrow goals, your actions will become caricatures of desperation. You must understand that your prospects know when you are desperate. They know when you are working for yourself and not for them.

So try not to worry so much about the final result of the sale. Focus on the systems that you have in place and work through them methodically.

Identify the challenges faced by your prospects, make the number of calls and contacts that you need to make – and remain relentlessly focused on helping your prospects and clients to succeed. Your numbers (and your commissions) will take care of themselves.

The answer to the question above is; “Both.” As technology increases our individual capabilities, there is an ever-smaller distinction between these two worlds.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that everything you do short of asking for a contract is marketing. Until you ask for a signature on the dotted line, you are painting pictures, telling stories, and creating a vision. All of which are central to the field of marketing.

Of course, the marketing you do on behalf of each individual client or prospect is a highly refined version of what the more general marketing staff is up to. They have to try to figure out what the market wants and needs in the aggregate. As a salesperson, you have the advantage of being able to craft a situation- and client-specific story that will speak directly to known individuals

All of which means that we could do their job. I wonder if they could do ours?

Why is a bad sales person like a bad actor? We know that they are both painful to watch – but they share far more in common than you might suspect.

Here are some of the similarities:

• They do not believe in what they are saying. There is a huge difference between reading lines, and actively believing in your “scene.” Just ask Meryl Streep. Then ask Paris Hilton.

• They ignore the other people on stage with them. Great actors pay lots of attention to the other players on stage – so do great sales people. Poor actors and sales people may as well be all by themselves.

• Their motivation is transparently false. Al Pacino isn’t thinking about his vacation plans when he’s on screen. Rather, he’s completely absorbed in the scene that he is playing. In fact, as a method actor, he momentarily believes it’s real. Are you that committed to every sales scene?

• Their physical behavior is exaggerated and strange. Such over-the-top behavior stopped being considered good acting when silent movies went out of fashion. Proper motivation breeds natural physical behavior. Just be normal!

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very.” Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
~Mark Twain

Sales people primarily do two things. We talk – and we write.

Talking seems to come fairly naturally to most people. We do it all the time with our family, our friends, our co-workers, and the people who cut us off in traffic. Writing, on the other hand, is an effort of will for most of us.

One of the things, then, that can truly make a sales person stand out is his or her ability to write. I’m not talking about 600-page novels or Hemmingway-esque soliloquies on the horrors of war. I’m just talking about clear, concise, and relatively interesting prose.

It’s not a bad idea to take a writing class at your local community college. Even if you don’t have the time for that, there’s one secret that can instantly transform your writing. It’s simply; “Write like you talk.”

For some reason, people think they need to throw four syllable adjectives, thousand-dollar nouns, and twisted syntax into every sentence they write. Don’t worry about those things – and don’t do them. Just tell me what you would if you were speaking to me, and more or less transpose that onto the page or email. I promise that I’ll understand – and I’ll consider you to be a pretty good writer.

Here’s a crazy paradox: Giant mega-companies are trying to convince everyone that they are nimble, quirky, local, and small(ish) in attitude. Tiny companies on the other hand would like everyone to believe that they have massive resources behind them (darkly hinting at possible connections to Google.)

Why is this? It’s because large companies are fearful of being viewed as out of touch. Small companies, on the other hand, are worried that you’ll think that they are going to have their lunch money taken away from them on the playground. They want to convince you that they are strong, resourced, and well-connected.

When you think about it, this is really a lot of foolishness. Everyone knows that Coke is neither local nor small. And no, they do not care about your active and youthful lifestyle. “Startup.com” on the other hand has not really convinced anyone that they are on the verge of a major deal with the Chinese government.

As a sales person, you should avoid getting caught up in these silly attempts at misdirection. Simply highlight your strengths and do not apologize for them.

If your company is small and nimble, that’s OK. Let people know about your ability to turn on a dime and your profound customer focus. If your company is huge and has more staff and resources than Thor, good for you. You can boast of your longevity, stability, and market expertise.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m a big fan of just telling the truth. It means you have far less to remember

Let’s face it – sales can be an extremely stressful profession.

We’ve got quarterly numbers to make. We’ve got commissions to earn in order to pay our mortgages. Bonuses and accelerators are dependent upon extraordinary performance. And let’s not even mention “Club,” that fabulous getaway to the beaches of Morocco in the event that we hit our goals.

Last, but certainly not least, if we don’t perform to very specific standards…well, we get fired.

Here’s a great way to lessen your stress. Just accept the fact that the end of the quarter is going to arrive, no matter what. It’s going to arrive if you make your numbers, if you fail to make your numbers, if you win the lottery, or if you get elected to the U.S. Senate. In other words, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about the inevitable passage of time.

The key is to stop worrying about those things over which you have no control. That includes your boss’s temper, your assistant’s personality disorder, or the meteorite that just struck your client’s warehouse.

You can’t slow down or speed up time – but you can perform the basic activities that give you the highest probability of success. Stay organized, engage in regular and productive contact with your prospects and offer the best products and services at a reasonable price.

By focusing on the things you do well – and that you do control – your level of stress will decline dramatically, and your level of success will rise.

I watched my hapless cat trying to hunt birds the other day. She didn’t feel like running or jumping, so she sat behind a tree. At the fountain in my yard, a dozen birds gathered to chat and have a few sips of water. Every once in a while, the cat would peer out to see if a bird might be foolishly strolling by.

Needless to say, the birds wisely avoided the tree, and the cat eventually fell asleep.

The same scenario plays out millions of times each day in sales organizations across the country. Sales people engage in similar types of magical thinking – hoping that a prospect will call, or email, or perhaps drop in on the office and ask for a contract.

It’s true that every once in a while, a contract will walk in your door. Just like every once in a while the slot machine will dump a bunch of quarters in the tray. But in almost every case, you’ll run out of quarters before your tray overflows.

In sales, consistency and systems are essential. You need to know who you have to contact in your target organizations. You need to know how many calls, emails, letters, and smoke signals you have to send out each day.

You don’t necessarily have to work like a lunatic – but you do have to reliably perform those basic tasks each day.

Then it just comes down to being truthful, empathetic, and motivated to help your clients.

Playing soccer in 8th grade, I was always surprised by the tremendous inconsistency of our team’s level of play. On one particular day at practice, our efforts had deteriorated to what I call the “Six-Year-Old-Scrum” – which is basically a bunch of kids running around in a pack like chickens with their heads cut off.

The coach blew his whistle, yelling, “Stop, stop, stop!” He explained to us that we had now reached the level of competition where our natural talents would no longer carry us. He said that if we hoped to be successful, we would need to be disciplined, consistent, and capable of running actual plays.

Sales people often display this undisciplined approach to their jobs. We rely upon our natural talents to make the sale. After all, we’re better at this than the average person, which is why we remain in the profession.

Unfortunately, by adopting this haphazard approach, we end up losing sales that we should have won. Equally bad, we expend tremendous amounts of unnecessary energy. Think of how much harder that pack of six-year-olds is working than is the single player who executes a flawless pass – and then positions himself for the goal.

I don’t care what system you adopt – there are plenty of good ones. But by systematically performing your daily tasks – from consistent prospecting, through coherent discovery, to the building of a valid value proposition – you will win more sales, and your work will seem both easier and more entertaining.