ANYONE CAN LEARN TO SELL - YES ANYONE

Peter Collins

Mentor ~ Coach ~ Acclaimed Author ~ Sales Strategist ~ Closing Specialist - High End Sales Trainer

Published Apr 28, 2019

(An extract from Peter Collins Article Archive of over 3,000 Articles gathered from over 40 years of Sales Research).

ANYONE CAN LEARN TO SELL - YES ANYONE

In this introduction I want to chat with those that have never sold as well as those that have been selling for a while. In understand that many would be small business owners that want to encourage those that have been loyal and have learned heaps about your product or service to move up to sales. Or you may be technical company that needs to harness their expertise and encourage them to take up sales.

To so many, sales is a hurdle that that those already in sales find hard to understand. It’s for them I have penned this introduction in the manner I have.

Selling is not a God Given Gift just for the “Chosen” Few

It beat’s me why so many people out there think that selling ability is a God given gift or a special talent available only to a few. It’s just a myth and couldn't be further from the truth.

The reality is that ANYONE can sell and EVERYONE sells, every minute of every day they are communicating with someone. We all do it. We sell our ideas constantly to our family, friends, relatives, work-mates and anyone else we me during the course of a day. It’s a way of life.

However, Professional Selling needs to be a learned skill that requires no prior special gift or abilities.

The seller needs to learn a set of ethical rules to follow and understand which phrases, questions and sentences generate interest, involvement and desire to know more (or have more) of what you have on offer, or what they have contacted you to understand more about or to seek out and buy if the price, quantity or conditions are right .

I Think I Can Relate to This

While I was filling up with petrol the other day, a gentleman struck up a conversation with me. He was admiring the car I drove and asked what I did for a living.

He then said that he too would do what ever it takes if it meant he could drive a Lexus like mine. I thanked him for the compliment then simply told him I was in sales.

With that he wanted to know how I got started in sales and what products I had sold over the years. I then explained to him that I started around 44 years ago by selling appointments for a house cladding company door to door. His immediate response was, "No Way Really?? I could never do that!" And that response surprised me.

Just a minute or two earlier he told me he was willing to do anything to own a car like mine but now, all of a sudden he's freaked out because I said "Door to Door sales." Then when I asked him why he felt that way, he said he just wouldn't have the courage to approach a stranger and simply strike up a conversation. Without hesitation, my response to him was... "Where have we met again?" To which he laughed and said "I get your point." We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes and parted soon after.

Everyone Sells – But Only Salespeople Get Paid for it

The real fact is that we sell ourselves everyday; we talk to strangers everyday and we influence other peoples decisions everyday. To most of us, these things area a part of life, to a salesperson they are their means of income, but for some reason or another, when the average person contemplates doing it for a living, the fear of failure seems to sets in.

I know for a fact, after selling, managing people and training for as long as I have, most of the people I’ve met are inherently afraid of rejection and failure and that fear usually precludes them from ever getting ahead in life – especially in anything to do with sales.

It’s the same fear that prevents them from ever really following their dreams, and it sadly keeps them in a miserable rut, and because of that fear, the one that stops them cold the first time around, they usually just end up envying those that took a chance to do something they themselves that they weren't even willing to try.

Anyone Can Learn to be an Expert in Sales

Anyone can learn to be an expert salesperson if they’re prepared to have someone coach or mentor them and put in the time and effort to understand what to do and how to do it. All they need is only the one prerequisite – to have a good attitude towards other people and treat them with respect whenever in conversation (sales mode) with them.

If that sounds corny to you, there’s something I would like to share with you. Here's the deal. In a short time you can be taught the elementary steps to a sale; you can be taught the factors of impulse; what makes your prospects buy and what you can do to encourage that; how to close the sale; get the order paid for. As time goes on, you can be taught how to rehash; how to work a territory and how to build a sales team. But most importantly, you will learn how to maintain a positive attitude when your having a bad day and to understand a “No” is just a few steps away from the “yes.,” and the more “No’s” you receive, the more likely you are to get a “Yes.”.

“Fake it Until you Make it” is Not a Part of Professional Selling

By now many of your friends have told you that to be good in sales you should "fake it to make it" and essentially how you should "pretend" to be a positive person. I don't mean to burst their bubble but, there is no substitute for Honesty and a Good Attitude. And Honesty and a Good Attitude are definitely Not some form of Light Switch that you can just turn it on and off when you please.

To be successful at sales, mostly all you need is a positive frame of mind and an optimistic attitude! "When you understand how to fix what’s on the inside... everything on the outside gets better."

Your attitude in general boils down to a few simple choices: Do you want to be a positive person or a negative person? Do you want to work at learning what to do, or do you just want to “wing it” and take the easy way out?

Make the decision and follow through.

Your positivity will become contagious and it will attract more positive people. These are the people that will like you, trust you and BUY FROM YOU with just a simple nudge in the right direction. It really can be that simple when you know how.

There Will Never Be a Substitute for Integrity

I'd like a dollar for every time I'd heard someone tell me that at the point of close, "You look them straight in the eye and tell them anything , as long as it sounds good - the piercing eye contact makes it seem plausible and truthful."

That's cute, and sounds very macho, but all the professionals I know will tell you a truth is a million times stronger than a lie. But it doesn't stop there. The truth is the most powerful sales weapon known to man. Here are just some of the side benefits of telling and selling with the truth as a firm foundation:-

1. The truth will exert all the pressure the seller will ever need to make a sale.

2. The seller can (if the situation warrants it) beat the prospect senseless with the truth - and if the prospect knows it's the truth, most times he or she will take the punishment and may even apologise for being so contradictory.

3. In essence, the truth is the only 100% guaranteed closing weapon available to the seller. And if you want to close more sales, more often, you must learn to honour, respect and use only that which is truth - a stretched truth is precisely that and not the truth. That's the truth.

Selling Should Always be a Two-Way Dialogue

Any top sales performer will be quick to tell you that the most successful salespeople, are the ones who actively involve their customers in the selling process.

The sales presentation should always be a two-way dialogue, with the salesperson in control of the proceedings at all times. However, it is also crucial that the salesperson fully involve the prospect so they may work together to find a solution to a particular challenge.

The professional understands that the prospects who participate in solving their own problems are more likely to accept the solutions.

Here’s Another Myth to Avoid “Big-Time”

Over the years I have been told about those really great people that were “born” to sell. They have the “gift of the gab,” or “can talk the leg off a wooden chair,” or worse still, “they can make things up as they talk so well they sound believable,” or even worse still, “they can say what the buyer wants to hear,” or the worse group of all, “he could sell sand to Arabs,” or “he could sell ice to Eskimo’s.”

Not one of those that are capable of selling that way, or the ones that think that way, or the ones that are impressed by that kind of behaviour would ever get a job with me. And if they did and I found out that they believed that stuff, I would give them just one warning, and if I found out that it was still part of their belief system at a later stage, I would dismiss them without hesitation. Why? You say. To you it seems so harsh and heartless. No these people cannot sell. They are not salespeople, far from it.

Allow Me to Explain Things Another Way

We've all heard our friends, our relatives, our acquaintances, or even superiors say of a person, "That man should be a salesman - he can sell me anything."

In the past, we have all read of the salesman selling great landmarks to tourists. One story that has become a standing joke is the amount of times the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been sold. But the Harbour Bridge was not sold by a salesman - it was sold by a conman.

Then whenever the media reports on confidence tricks being worked on the unsuspecting public, they label them a salesperson, not a criminal. The true salesperson is a highly ethical and devoted professional who carefully and sincerely endeavours to help each and every customer he sells or services.

Your friend, the one who can sell you anything, either has the raw potential which could make him a salesman in the foreseeable future, or, like the man who can sell the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is a true-to-life conman.

And there is no such person as a natural born salesman. Not one person has been born with all the necessary qualities needed - the combination of charm, pride, charisma, personality, persuasiveness, glib, competence, self assurance, the burning desire to achieve, to succeed, a significantly high ego drive, and empathy.

Not one woman has ever given birth to a natural born salesman. No great salesperson has ever been born great. They have all been trained, have studied and worked relentlessly to become great individuals and greater salesmen than most other salesmen.

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This Article is by Peter Collins - In a sales career spanning more than 50 years, Peter Collins has focused on helping and bringing out the best in others - whether it involves training or mentoring salespeople, managers, business consulting to SME’s. Since the 1970’s Peter has built a reputation as a Nationally and Internationally Published author, and of the 130 books he has written over the past 48 years, Peter has 65 Business Books to his credit, (but he is mainly known for one book based on the Audio Tape series of the same name, Over 50 Ways of Closing the Sale). Peter also has written 23 Christian books. One of Peter's books, sold almost 2 million copies in the late 1970's and is still selling well through second hand online marketers worldwide. In his personal life, Peter has been sought after as an encourager and motivator that has given of his time and talents freely despite his busy schedule. Subsequently, he has assisted churches, pastors, community and charity groups, as well as individuals through his teaching, training, development and on-going mentoring.

Peter can be contacted through his website – profitmakersales.com

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