Can I Do Sales?

Can I Do Sales?

One of the responses I received to my last blog post on “Is there life after retirement?” was “Can everyone can or should go into business or even into sales?”

The underlying point was that it takes a certain kind of person with a certain kind of skill set to succeed as a business person or in a sales career.

I cannot agree more. But what I have found surprising is that those who have made it in business and in sales are not “one kind” but rather many kinds in terms of physical traits, personality, and psychology. The much-bandied-around “business acumen” or “sales type” stereotype needs to be examined further.

I will discuss here the subject of sales and leave the business issue to a later blog post.

We encounter different salespeople ranging from the door-to-door salesman (e.g. Rainbow vacuum cleaner), to the multi-level downliner, to the night market “koyok” seller with his non-stop monologue sales pitch, to the real estate and insurance agent.

But why do these images come to our mind and not the advertising and PR consultants, the architects, the doctors, the lawyers, bankers, engineers, lecturers, teachers, etc? Why do we mostly associate sales with the promotion of products and not with creative ideas and concepts and professional services?

The word sales in its broadest sense will include getting someone to buy something or use something or do something.

Defined this way, everyone is involved in sales and nothing happens until a “sale” is made. Parents have to do a lot of “selling” in bringing up their children. Educators have to do a lot of selling to influence their students to learn and to apply their knowledge. Government ministers have to do a lot of selling of government policies.

Every business and everyone who wants to promote the use of something has to “sell” either ideas, beliefs, values, or products and services.

But even if we accept this broad definition, we recognize that some jobs have a bigger component of sales than others. The accountant has only to sell his skills to be employed and to sell confidence that his accounts are properly kept and reported and in compliance with accepted practice and governance.

The sales manager and the sales executive have to do much more selling daily to be effective in their jobs, which are measured by sales production and growth.

So it is helpful to look at different occupations as differing in degree of sales skills component.

Relationship building, communication, the art of negotiation, empathy, etc, are needed skills for all occupations, but are crucial in sales.

Moreover, there are so many ways we can influence others, and the way which is more effective depends very much on the person we are talking to.

I have found that quiet, soft-spoken people who listen more than they talk, while apparently unsuited to sales, can prove otherwise and be very successful in sales. The slick salesman with the gift of the gab tends to put off many people especially when it comes to “knowledge” products or services.

There are certain processes and skills which need to be practiced and honed, and everyone with a desire to learn will benefit from good training.

But there is no running away from the 80:20 rule (Pareto’s law), and in every group, it will be the 20 percent who will be very successful and generate 80 per cent of the sales.

Why is this so?

Is it due to education, aptitude, attitude, opportunities, training, or environment?

All these factors no doubt have an influence, but I think the single most important factor is indefinable and often called the X factor. It is a combination of ambition, drive, trustworthiness, likeability, self-confidence, and belief in the product or service. Both good attitude and aptitude are necessary factors, but may not be sufficient. The tipping factor is often enthusiasm and belief.

It is said many people buy the salesperson more than the product. Many people would buy from one person and not another because of feeling rather than fact. Herein lies the problem – their feeling may be wrong and they can be conned, but humans will be humans and it takes all sorts of humans to touch different sorts of humans. So the answer to the question “Can everyone succeed in sales?” – Yes, if you can find enough people who buy from you.