When you hear the word, “salesman”, what do you think of? For some reason, I think of a sleazy yet peppy guy wearing a red and white striped coat jacket with white pants and one of those boater hats… sort of like barbershop quartet look. Why? I am not sure, but probably because some greedy salesman figure wore it in a children’s T.V show I watched years ago.
Most people probably think of someone like this, or maybe one of those screaming car salesmen whom are running all over a parking lot in a cowboy hat for one of their commercials. The point is, the stereotype of sales is someone who is sleazy, greedy, cheesy, and only wants you for your money. Clearly, the sales world has not been given the best rap. While this is not the least bit true in the modern sales market, there are a few other myths of selling that I wanted to clear up for you.
- Myth of the “Blockhead”
Given the stereotype that salespeople do, they often are not seen as the most intelligent people in the world. With this myth, many say that is does not take a genius to sell. Say what you will, but I strongly disagree. Not just anyone can sell a product to someone. You have to be aware of many more things than the average Joe could think of. You must be thoughtful and concerned about many aspects of the customer’s life and pain that they have. You need to be very personable, as well as have a rather high EQ (emotional quotient). On that note, you also need to be able to assess a person very quickly. Within minutes of walking into a meeting with a customer, it is crucial that you are able to figure out what kind of person they are and what pleases them. If you are not able to do this, that is the difference between winning or losing a client.
- Myth of the Moneygrubber
“You have to be pretty greedy if you want to go into sales.” Okay, I can see why people would think this. Salesmen are trying to get you to buy their product, but it is not just so they can get your money and scam you out. In reality, selling is the exact opposite of this myth. Although you have to be persistent in this part of business, the main idea behind your selling is solving your customer’s pain. You want to do whatever you can to help them get out of whatever difficulty they are in. The ultimate salesman would even go the distance of sending of potential customer to another supplier just so they can solve their client’s problem.
- Myth of the Natural
Apparently some people are born to sell, and those who are not- cannot. Clearly this is not true. While it may be true that some are born with natural selling techniques such as extroversion, empathy, and a high EQ, that does not mean these things cannot be learned. I thought I had a lot of natural-born selling techniques, but after taking a sales class, I realized there is so much more to selling that I am not aware of. Everyone needs to learn something.
Next time you see a salesman coming your way, do not think of the pushy guy in the barbershop quartet outfit, think of a loyal helper trying to solve your pain.
BoweryJE22
I think another element that shows the difficult of sales is how important attunement, which is the ability to bring ones actions and outlook into harmony with other people and with the context you’re in. The balance of being headstrong versus a pushover highlights the complexity of sales.
Sort of combining many of Sweet’s lessons with these, I would say that if we are all salespeople then we all must be greedy, which is not the case, therefore making that myth truly a myth. These three myths really did clear up the sales role for me; it is encouraging to know that not everyone has to be a natural to be good at something…skills can be acquired which is extremely encouraging to people who are interested in sales but might think they are too quiet or not extroverted enough.