Myth #1: Selling is all about ripping people off with an unfair deal.
Yes, some people are gullible. But sometimes they are in a situation where they do not have enough expertise to make a decision. In this latter case, they rely on experts to make the right decision for them, just as our clients rely on our expert advice on how to solve their myriad of PC problems. It is here that they are most vulnerable to the unscrupulous.

Therefore, I cannot stress enough the need for your total integrity in what you do. It will shine through, you will build trust and you will be trusted when they need that expensive solution you recommend. Don’t think short-term. Think “life-time value of your client.”

Just today I heard about an example of questionable ethics. A guy was selling burglar alarms, poorly constructed with lightweight wood, containing a simple circuit board and a 9-volt battery. Some customers complained over its quality. So this guy went to his local merchants, got a whole load of bricks and glued them to the inside. New customers now thought they must be of extremely high quality and would contain the latest in security electronics. It was only when they opened the box, to their horror they saw the brick! Funny though this story is, I do not advocate this approach!

Myth #2: Salespeople are born, not made
Complete rubbish! I may be at odds with a large number of readers here but I don’t necessarily go with the crowd. I accept that some people may have a personality that is more suited to selling than others, but through training, hard work and your own efforts you can become an even better sales person than those with the million-dollar smile and personality.

When it comes to consultancy sales, there is more to it than a nice smile and “Let’s give Jack the business – he’s such a nice guy!” For low cost products and if you are “in” with the secretary, it might be enough to tip the business your way. But when the sums of money grow in size, they want professionals who are reliable, who will deliver on their promise and provide excellent support.

In my early selling career, I was a disaster. I was 530th out of 555 salesmen. In other words, I was one of the worst salesmen in the company! I was not happy with the situation. I used to look up at the top salesman as though they were the gods! “How can they get that much business? Why can they do it and not me?”

So what did I do? Give up? No! I worked at it. I bought some sales books, studied the techniques that were supposed to work and created my own sales presentation. I would practice so it would be second nature. Too late if you try to practice during a sales appointment. You haven’t got time to think let alone remember all those wonderful techniques you read about. The guys at a ball game don’t use a real game for practice. They do it on the training field, over and over again. That is what I did. Eventually, I could say my “pitch” in my sleep.

The result? I went from 530th to 15th. The top 3% of the sales force!

I’m telling you all this for a reason. I don’t want you to believe for one minute that you are not capable of being an effective salesperson. My experienced has proved to me anyone can improve their ability to sell.

Perhaps the idea of developing sales skills does not fill you with much excitement. But it should! You must realise that it will make a huge difference to your earning potential and neglecting this area will mean you missing out on that nice car, the holiday, the luxuries we all like. Isn’t it worth overcoming our attitude to selling if it can reward us in so many ways? Make your own mind up on this one – I’ve made mine.

Myth #3: If I build a better mousetrap, they will come.
This is such a dangerous and misleading saying that people seem to accept it as a truism. The reality is, it is so far from the truth that it turns my stomach. If you build a better mousetrap, you have to let people know in a persuasive and palatable way. Everybody is claiming they have a better mousetrap! Just look at all the advertising promising a better lifestyle, superior quality, more reliability. It never ends!

A more accurate saying would be: Build a better marketing system and they will come, even if your service is rubbish.

I am being facetious here but I’m sure you get the point.

What makes a perfect salesman?

There are as many different kinds of selling personalities as there are people. I have seen very outgoing people be highly successful salespeople and much quieter individuals pull in a huge number of orders. To my mind, it is not the type of personality that makes an effective salesman.

The most important quality salesmen have is their ability to listen carefully to what the client is saying. Client needs can then be clarified. Only then can you present in a way that matches their wants to what you have to offer.

What most books on selling teach you

Much emphasis has been made on closing the sale in sales literature. There are literally hundreds of books with large sections (or indeed the whole book!) devoted to 101 ways to close the sale. You get the Benjamin Franklin close, the puppy dog, the alternative advance, the assumptive technique and more than I could possibly remember. The idea behind it is if you can strongly close (did I hear force?) someone into making an instant decision, you are well on your way to making a sale. “Close 7 times!” you hear the sales trainers say. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand it when sales people get all “trappy” on me.

How this may lose you sales

Bearing in mind that you want to build a client bank with regular repeat business, who do you think the client would rather deal with? Someone who is pushy, always asking for the order, or someone who is friendly and helpful? I would personally go for the latter every time. In fact, I would avoid calling the pushy guy for help, especially if I had just a general enquiry. My thoughts would run as follows: “I wonder if I should get my network upgraded? I don’t really want to call Dave because he will just try to push me into something whether I need it or not. And I just don’t fancy fending off a barrage of sales techniques right now.”

You want your clients to feel as they can call you at any time. This way, you build up a relationship faster. There is more trust too. I would think, “I will call John because he asks what I’m looking for and gives me straight answers. Then I can think at my leisure whether it is an avenue I want to pursue.” So I call, listen to the sense John makes and find myself being persuaded – without pressure – towards the avenue that actually helps me.

In this hypothetical scenario, John gets the business because his approach encourages contact and Dave doesn’t.