Perhaps the most relevant lesson that I have learned in this class, to date, is that we are all involved in the selling process, regardless of the career that we are in. Whether this be selling a product, ourselves, or our ideas, selling is a natural part of everyone, whether we are “naturally” good at it or bad at it. It is extremely interesting to me that traditional “sales” roles are being combined with engineers, marketers, and finance roles each day. The career landscape is changing, and while sales was always part of everyday operations, its necessary components are becoming more relevant each and everyday.
I have also learned that every can be a salesperson. Like I said previously, we all sell at least one thing every day, so each person is a natural salesman or woman. Pink debunks the myth that people are natural sellers, rather, he believe that we all are capable of selling. To take that one step further, I believe that we are all capable of selling, yet what we sell determines whether we are good salespeople or not. If we have a passion for a product or service, people are more naturally inclined to sell that item better than others. This is where people become better salespeople. Pink’s book states that to be a good salesperson, you have to believe in your product. He sites the Fuller Brush Man as an example of this. Hall, the example in the story, believed in his product, which is why he sold such a magical story to his customers. Everyone can be in sales, it just depends whether or not you believe in what you are selling and how you let that affect your selling process.
David Mattson’s book also gave me some keen advice: “it is ok to fail”. However, this does not mean that one keeps on failing, rather, learning from your failures is a key element of sales and of being an entrepreneur Failure is part of life, but it is letting this failure keep us afraid or using it to gain an advantage on whatever task you are trying to tackle. This makes individuals better sales people through training them to be resilient, focused, and strategic, using mistakes as a way to learn how to approach situations in a new way.
This Sales Class has taught me lessons that I did not expect to learn; it has taught me more about myself and how I solve problems and issues that are thrown my way. I know how to be a better saleswoman and I will carry this with me as a venture into my career with PNC Financial Services Group.
BoweryJE22
Great article. I, too, was unaware at just how many people are involved in the selling process. As we learned in Pink, 8-9 people are involved in the process! This will be a vital lesson to remember as all engage in the selling process throughout our careers.