Importance of Personal Experience in Sales

A good friend of mine started his own painting business about 4 years ago. He’s been very successful and now has eight guys working for him and has more work than he can handle. I asked him what some of the keys were to his success in sales. He visits new customers almost every day as he drives around to look at new jobs. He mentioned that a big reason that he’s able to have so much success is his ability to build trust with his customers. A key part of this is that he’s so familiar with the painting process. He’s worked as a painter for quite a few years so he’s able to relay to the customer exactly what’s going to take place. He said that he feels this is incredibly important for a trade business. It’s crucial to have salespeople who have worked on the paint crew and know what they’re talking about. When the sales person knows exactly what it’s going to take to complete a job, and is intimately familiar with the process, it goes a long way in building trust with the customer, and ultimately closing the sale.