The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.”
–Dale Carnegie

Honestly, how many of us can really admit that we love to do Sales? In a crowded room, I would definitely say only a small handful of people will say that they like sales. Majority would admit that if given a choice, they would not want to do sales. Why don’t we like to do Sales?

Many of us may have had the misfortune of meeting a pushy Sales person at least once in our lifetime. Let me ask you in all honesty, do you find that it was the Sales person who you didn’t like and not the product? There are quite a lot of pushy Sales people out there. These people are either not properly trained or they are what we call “product pushers”. They just want to push products out to fulfill their sales quota. And the harder people push, you notice that you either push back or you just walk away. Either way, it is a bad experience for both parties.

However, that Sales person could also have been you. Why? Perhaps you were either ill-equiped or not sufficiently trained. Or you have not yet realize that selling is more than pushing and forcing something on to the other person.

Selling is about listening, not about talking. Do you realize that when a good Sales Person approaches you, you (and not the Sales person) are the one who is doing most of the talking and sharing your pains. At  the end of the conversation, you would highly likely have bought whatever it was that the Sales person was selling. Yes, the product is important (for it must be something that is useful to you). However, I can confidently say that most of the time, the sale was successful because the Sales person listened to you and you felt good. So, do you think that you need to be an excellent speaker to be successful in sales? No, you need to be a excellent LISTENER!

In this time and age, successful selling is not about peddling products or services. Successful Sales people are selling relationships. Soft selling is the key. It is also about selling solutions and sometimes, it is also about selling a want and a dream. If you were to pick up 2 flayers in the street, both selling Laptops. One flayer from Laptop Company A listed down all the Laptop configurations in detail, the processing speed, the memory capacity and so on. What if the flayer for Laptop Company B only listed the basic configurations down, but had pictures of a young, successful man and lady holding the colorful laptops, with the words “Get a Laptop to Suit Your Style” or “Laptops that helps you achieve high goals or Success at Work!”.  Which laptop Company do you think will get more business?

Selling is definitely more than a product. Say for example in my case. I have subscribed to an eLearning Portal and in all honesty, that portal is fantastic. Actually, the product alone sells itself. It has got videos of successful speakers and mulit millionaires, it has got language courses, computer based training courses and a bit of everything for the entire family. Now, if I went around selling these benefits and wonderful products at the eLearning Portal, I am no better than Laptop Company A.  However, if I am going to sell this as a solution, as an opportunity to people who are either looking for a business with very little money down, low risk but high returns , or they could be looking to learn from already successful and wealthy people, or people who are wanting to learn and improve themselves with the latest computer softwares in town, this is just the place for them. It is about how one package the product as a solution to ease the other person’s pain or enhances his pleasure.

There are many other reasons why most people dislike doing sales. In a nutshell, it is about their perception of the Sales persons whom they have met in their lives. And more often then not, that has been what has stopped many people from being successful in their jobs as Sales people or in their business. In life and in all that we do, we have been unconsciously selling. Did we not have to sell ourselves to our boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses or they just decided to pick you up at random? Did we not have to sell ourselves to our potential bosses to get the job? But the minute you consciously think that you are selling, that is when you freeze up.

Finally, selling can also be looked as sharing. If you were to have enjoyed a wonderful meal at a restaurant or seen an exceptionally good movie, what is the first thing you will do the next morning at work? Or when you met a friend at lunch? You will share with him or her your wonderful experience. Similarly, if you were to have been given an opportunity which will likely springboard you to a means of owning your own business with very little money down, would you not want to share that with a friend. The best part of it, money to you aside, how would it feel if you had managed to help a friend find a means to earn a little bit of extra money at the start to afford to send his/her daughter to the ballet class she really wants, and perhaps to allow him to eventually achieve his financial freedom? Would that not make you feel like a FIRST CLASS Friend?

So, change your mindset. Help change your friends mindsets about Sales. Sales can be fun and exciting. Sales is crucial to success and make yourself like doing Sales. Why? When you enjoy or like doing something, you will end up doing it well!