This is my last blog post of the semester. It’s crazy how time flies isn’t it? I have taken another sales class before but there are some valuable things that I have learned in Sales in the Startup from Professor Sweet. I really believe some of these concepts will translate to a sales job someday. Here are few lessons that I have learned:
1. PAIN! The notorious pain that Professor Sweet talks about. The concept is not a hard one to understand but it has help me connect the dots a little more. What I mean by that is, I now consciously think about what is the customers pain and if I can solve their needs. As a salesman, I am a solutions provider and so I need to find the problem in order to understand if I have the solution. “No pain, no sale.”
2. The concept of buoyancy. Again not rocket science but another core principle that I think is often disregarded. As we learned in class, I am not the most positive person at times. I tend t be really pessimistic that things are not going to pan out after a couple times. By learning this principle, it has made me realize that you have to persevere through all the rejection. It sure isn’t easy but we have to try.
3. The concept of “going for no.” When I first heard this principle I thought it was counter-intuitive. Why in the world would you want them to say no? What a waste of time, Then i realized the importance of going for no. If someone is on the fence, it is a great way to direct them to yes or no. As we have learned, sales transactions do not happen over night. They tend to take awhile. Thus, it is better to save time and “go for no.”
4. A prospect is listening is not a prospect at all. This one makes sense to me the more I read about it. I heard that the person who asks you more questions is the one who is most interested. You would think that the guy who is doubting you and asking you the tough questions is the one who is not interested. Well you thought wrong…
5. Non-sales selling, Did you know that 40% of our time is dedicated to non-sales selling? Well you should, because we learned it in class. This class has made me realize that we all sell something at some point in your life. So many people have bad perceptions of salesman but it has allowed me to be more aware of the life of a salesman. A salesman has a hard job and I know I will not give a hard time to another salesman again, Unless he is bad at his craft.
BoweryJE22
This is such a great concept to outline. Going for no is crucial in order to be successful in sales. It allows you to get a clear answer, no maybes. This is great because so many salesmen can waste their time trying to make a sale, when it was a no from the very beginning.
This covers several important concepts that we’ve learned. I have learned a ton of things that I didn’t really expect to learn when I went into this class. Pink has some really unique perspectives on selling, and Mattson has some invaluable selling rules that should never be disregarded. I will keep both of these books a future reference. Thanks professor Sweet!
Great overview from the semester! We both gained a lot of the same insights from Sales in the Startup! I hope you can takes these with you out into the workforce.