Here is a great story and lesson from Michael Oliver of Natural Selling:I was at our local market place savoring a nice apple pie a la mode when I struck a conversation with some people there.
We got around to talking about selling and one of them, I discovered, used to work for the local and very large telephone company.
She told me she became the top sales person in the first month she joined. And then after that her ranking plummeted.
I asked her why that was, and her reply was something that all of us might pay attention to…
She said, "In the first month no one told me I was in the sales department. All they told me during my training was that people would call looking for a phone service and that I was to help them find what they needed and help them buy it."
"So in the first month you didn't think of yourself as a sales person?" I asked.
"No, I didn't! And when I found out I was, by looking at the board where the month's sales reports is posted, and seeing my name under salespeople, something happened to me… and the number of customers I serviced after that went down."
"So how did you go about serving your customers in the first month" I probed.
"Well I would ask questions and give them the correct features depending on their requirements."
"So why did it all change?"
"Because before I never saw myself as a salesperson, and then I saw that I was!"
"And what's a… 'salesperson'… in your minds eye?"
"You know, someone who is trying to sell something… trying to persuade them to buy our service… I just couldn't do that…"
We got around to talking about selling and one of them, I discovered, used to work for the local and very large telephone company.
She told me she became the top sales person in the first month she joined. And then after that her ranking plummeted.
I asked her why that was, and her reply was something that all of us might pay attention to…
She said, "In the first month no one told me I was in the sales department. All they told me during my training was that people would call looking for a phone service and that I was to help them find what they needed and help them buy it."
"So in the first month you didn't think of yourself as a sales person?" I asked.
"No, I didn't! And when I found out I was, by looking at the board where the month's sales reports is posted, and seeing my name under salespeople, something happened to me… and the number of customers I serviced after that went down."
"So how did you go about serving your customers in the first month" I probed.
"Well I would ask questions and give them the correct features depending on their requirements."
"So why did it all change?"
"Because before I never saw myself as a salesperson, and then I saw that I was!"
"And what's a… 'salesperson'… in your minds eye?"
"You know, someone who is trying to sell something… trying to persuade them to buy our service… I just couldn't do that…"
» Great Sales Perspective Lesson from LandingTheDeal
Thanks to Ty over at MultiLeveler for a great post about how sales people should view themselves, and what they do. That is, be "helpers". Read it here. I'm enjoying Ty's blog about network marketing, which I have dabbled in... [Read More]
Tracked on: June 14, 2006 12:45 AM | Permalink to Trackback