Salespeople: Be Yourself and Keep Your Commitments

Salespeople: Be Yourself and Keep Your Commitments

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ID-100256646Sales is so full of stereotypes that it’s not even fun to use them anymore. I have found that failures in sales happen because there is a general lack of understanding that onboarding a new customer is a process just like ordering office supplies or sending out an invoice. Somehow those processes seem more tangible and visible to the world. Sales is a diva business. Sales is magic. Sales is that thing that no one can understand. A handful can do it, and even fewer want any part of it. Sales is about knowing what you’re doing, following a good process, always doing what you say, and being your authentic self along the way. Be fake? Try to be something you’re not? Well, prospects buy from people they like and if you would be yourself they probably would.  Be what you are—not what you think a salesperson is supposed to be!

A sales process is nothing more than a series of steps to be completed with your prospect. The big challenge is that your prospect does not have that matrix or checklist and is probably unaware of where you are and what you need to complete the sale. That is where you come in.

You could hand the customer the steps to be completed and let them participate. Or at the very least tell them what to expect next. However, this is most likely not your customers job. I bet it is not your only job either. You have other parts to your role like being a part of your team, or delivery, or internal projects, maybe even other prospects.

This is where it gets tricky. Sales people are human. We are flawed—busy, lazy, new, overly confident, on plan, off plan. We are all this and much more. These flaws show up in how we do our business and whether or not we follow our process. It is our commitment to the next step and our ability to deliver that makes all the difference.

This is at the subconscious level mind you with your prospect. They probably don’t say anything if you call later than expected or miss a deadline. They definitely don’t say anything out loud if you’re trying to be something you’re not. They simply don’t buy.

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