YOU

We have all at one time tried to put on a face to impress a peer, authority figure, friend or perhaps most commonly a significant other. I am here to tell you that in sales, that just won’t fly. Throughout the day people are being bombarded by disingenuous ads and sales techniques. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you must be the one thing that everyone else is not, you.

If you look at the past few years, technology has blown people’s privacy out of the water. Gone are the days where the impression you have of someone is solely based on your face-to-face interactions. It is imperative that you stay consistent across platforms, so that the Facebook you and the Instagram you and college you and the home you are all the same you. The customers that meet you in person after interacting on social media or email, should have no surprise when they begin to find out who you really are.

This is especially important in a sales role. A few years ago, a video of some workers at domino’s pizza posted a video to the web of them doing terrible things to a customer’s pizza before delivery. The CEO of dominoes responded to this in a way that is in my opinion, nothing short of brilliant. He got on his cell phone and recorded a video of himself, the man, not just the CEO telling the world a personal apology in his own words. No scripts no gimmicks, just him telling the world sorry. The public was forgiving and sales were not compromised because of his quick, genuine thinking.

Because he was able to be himself and communicate authentically with the public, he won the approval of the masses. This is perhaps the best sales tactic of all. For us to be affective sellers we must lay down any sort of persona or mask that doesn’t belong to us and we must begin addressing the world in a more authentic way.