RR#095 - Sales doesn’t need to suck

Truth be told, I never wanted to get into sales.

When I took my first professional sales job at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a shy introvert, my real aspirations were to get a law degree and work in politics. I was just going to plug my nose and do the “sales thing” to get my foot in the door.

15 years later, I was the Managing Director at the world’s largest business federation, leading a national field sales team, the national membership and fundraising center, direct mail marketing, and building an online membership sales platform.

I’d fallen out of love with politics, but in love with sales.

Flipping my mindset around sales was life-changing.

If I hadn’t, I’d probably be wearing a tie at 9 pm in my DC office, working on policies I lost my passion for a decade ago.

No bueno.

Having led dozens of sales teams and organizations, I’ve seen the mindset patterns of thousands of salespeople throughout my career.

And I’ve seen how these mindset patterns make some people rich and happy, and others quite the opposite.

These are 4 insights I’ve curated to help you make more money and get more fulfillment from sales.

1. Actually Believe In What You’re Selling

If you don’t, my advice is pretty simple: Use it as feedback, and pivot to selling something you DO believe in.

Sales is all about transferring conviction, belief, and emotion.

If you’re selling something you secretly don’t believe in, you are going to convey that in your body language, the tonality of your voice, and the confidence of your words.

The prospect is going to know. They won’t say anything. And they might not even realize that they know. But they’ll know.

You can’t transfer conviction, belief, and emotion you don’t have. And if there isn’t any emotion, there usually isn’t a sale.

 

2. Serve By Selling

This sounds corny, but isn’t.

If you believe in what you are selling (see point 1 above), you know that your customers and clients are better off after they give you money.

And if you really believe that, you should acknowledge that you are doing them a disservice by not selling them what you have to offer.

Every time you don’t ask the right question, follow the best practice, and close the sale, you are letting that person down.

Because they are missing out on the opportunity to improve their situation or solve their problem with what you have to offer.

So, if you believe in what you are selling, you serve your customers and clients by selling them.

 

3. Be Crazy Curious

Objections aren’t just inevitable - they’re almost necessary.

If there weren’t any objections, an AI-bot or email could sell for you (without all the commission that enables you to create wealth as a salesperson).

The problem is, most people try to ‘argue’ the objection away and ‘overcome’ it by beating the prospect into submission with rebuttals.

But that’s a big miss.

You don’t need to be that clever or obnoxiously persistent with rebuttals. You need to be CURIOUS.

Because objections usually aren’t all they seem. The first objection you hear is usually a smokescreen. An almost habitual response drawing from the ‘customer excuse drawer.’

“I’ve got to talk to a partner.” “I’ve got to think about it.” “I’ve got one more call with another provider tomorrow, and then I’ll give you a buzz.”

But there’s more to the story. And you won’t uncover it with stock rebuttals. You’ll only uncover it with questions.

Which is why curiosity will help you uncover what’s really going on. And as a bonus, when you are genuinely curious in your tone and body language, prospects aren’t defensive.

 

4. The Value of 'No'

You know who’s MISSED the most career shots in the NBA?

The late, and great, Kobe Bryant.

You know who’s second?

LeBron James (runner-up for the GOAT position, at best).

Other names on the top 10 of most shots missed in their career?

Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Carmelo Anthony, and Karl Malone.

The point?

Missing shots is just part of the game. And the people who score the most points also miss the most shots.

The same is true in sales.

No’s are part of the game. The more of them you get, the more yes’s you are going to get. And trying to avoid ‘no’ means avoiding ‘yes’ by default.

As a sales leader, I can predict the rate of improvement by the raw number of rejections someone is getting. So get moving.

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These are 4 ways to reframe your mindset around sales to unlock more money and more fulfillment in your career.

Want to explore further?

Check out my YouTube video with these and 5 other sales mindset hacks here.

P.S. - Wanna take it on the road? Tune in on Repeatable Revenue Podcast here.