I did not know exactly what to expect when I took Dr. Sweet’s Sales in a Startup class but I loved Dr. Sweet from Entrepreneurship 101 and thought that would be a good elective to take because I did want to learn more about sales. I assumed sales was a chess match between the client and the salesperson and that there was on winner and one loser in the conversation. On the first day of class, Dr. Sweet showed me that I was wrong.
One of the valuable lessons I learned is that as a salesperson is that your job is not to manipulate the other person into buying your product or service, it is about seeing if you and the client are a good match. It is about getting to know your client and getting to their real pain because usually the problem they say they have is usually never the only or the real problem. Sales people have a negative stereotype of being manipulative and using different schemes that trick the client into feeling like they need that product but the techniques that Sweet has taught us are aimed to getting to know your client better and making them feel comfortable with you as a sales person.
Making the client comfortable with you is going to lead them to be more willing to make a sale with you. This is where Sweet has taught us to get to know the client more and try to relate to them as a person. The goal is to separate them from their job title and look at them as a person and to get to know them on a person level. Unless the person is not vibing with you so then you have to attune or adjust to them. For example, if they do not have a lot of time, you try to get your point across and get to know them as quick as possible because you do not want to annoy the client by taking up a lot for their time if they are busy. These are just some of the valuable lessons I have learned in Dr. Sweet’s class this semester and he has really showed me what sales really is and what a salesman should try to do.
BoweryJE22
Dylan, I like how you point out what were your major takeaways from the class and I would say I can away from the class with a similar list. I especially like your first point when you point out the the job of a sales person is to see if the client is a match and not to force them into buying your product.
I really like the list that you came up with after looking back on the year. The idea that we are sales people are manipulative and greedy is one that is held by so many, and needs to be changed. This idea causes a mistrust that should not be present in the selling process.
It is interesting to hear about the assumptions you had about sales going into the class. I also had similar assumptions. It is so different watching sales from the outside. It has been interesting getting more in-depth knowledge of how sales actually work this semester.
Your takeaway about winners and losers is a very valuable lesson! In a successful sales situation, both the salesperson and prospect should come away winners. I think this is an area where the general idea of what a salesperson is/does is detrimental to the profession, because a good salesperson wins when their client wins, so they are going to truly help their client.