Selling is one of the most exciting and rewarding professions on the planet. Nowhere else can you experience all the highs and lows, wins and losses and everything in between and in the main still want to do the job.
To some this sounds crazy, but ask a professional sales person and they will tell you they love it. The buzz, the excitement of winning. There is nothing like it to those of us who love sales.
Over the next few weeks we are going to look at the basics of selling. Remembering that nothing is new, and nothing should be thrown out. In other words we use all the tools we can to ensure we give our clients what they want. Old, new or otherwise, and as long as we are honest in all our dealings we can sleep at night and continue to call back to our clients or potential clients and help them to win too.
Here lies the first of many clues. If the client does not want or need it, we ain’t got a sale. I know, there are some sales people out there that can sell anything to anyone, but that is not the kind of selling we want to get involved in. If you can’t face your client the next day or go back for more later, chances are you are not the professional sales person we want in our sales force. That is not to say that we cannot present to our potential client and find a desire or need and develop from there. That is where selling becomes really exciting.
I learnt a great deal about sales in the mid 1970s working with an American Insurance company. In short what they taught me changed my life forever. The way I thought, the way I spoke and the way I dealt with those around me. Life changing. Sadly, whilst working with this company I also learnt some not so good traits from sales people who only ever thought of their back pocket and how much money they could make from a client, whether they needed the product or not, they so called “Sold” it to them anyway.
This is not the type of selling that we are going to share with you. If what we do or say does not fit into what I call the “HIT” principle we don’t do it.
What is the “HIT” principle you ask?
I learnt the “HIT” principle from what I believe are two (2) of the most inspirational salesmen I have ever come across. I know there are a lot of great sales mentors out there and I have learnt from them too and when you meet these type of people, you do well to listen to them and where possible emulate them.
The first of those that inspired me the most is a man named W Clement Stone (USA). I worked for his company in the 1970s and the second is Bill Cullerton (Australia) whom I also worked for but in the 1990s.
These two (2) people were in my opinion the very best in sales performance and sales training I have ever had the good pleasure to be associated with.
In my presentations I will also be sharing “Sales Gold” shared by these great men and others plus a lot of my own thinking which has been shaped by many mentors over the years. It is to all those great sales professionals, many whom I have never met personally I thank for what I share and hopefully pass forward to others worldwide.
So, let’s get into it, what is the “HIT” principle? Very simply:
H = Honesty
I = Integrity
T = Trust
If you as a sales person cannot encapsulate these three (3) very important words and all that they mean and stand for and entrench them not only into your sales work but your very being, then do yourself and your customers a favour and find another profession. You will be the one to suffer in the long run. But, if you want to change and really be the true sales champion you and others can be proud of, stick with us. This is food for champions.
Honest, Integrity and Trust, the beginnings of “How to Win in Sales and Keep Winning”.
More next week.
Why not send this onto your sales colleagues and friends and subscribe them and others to this weekly sales web log. It might just make all the difference to you, them and your clients.
Would you like to get Stan Sykes to share with your sales people or would you like to talk to him about your business? We are only an email away.
Yours in sales success,
Stan Sykes
Liberty E.M.I.
