Resources on sales

[guitarplayer]

Hello EREmites.

A question for those of you with experience in sales, do you have any blindingly obvious resources for those who are not naturals in sales?

Imagine @2b1s giving @jacob advice on sales (not that @jacob would ever ask for it).

[2Birds1Stone]

It depends on what you're trying to sell.....but a good place to start is some books;

Winning Friends & Influencing People
The Challenger Sale
Let's Get Real or Let's not Play
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Gap Selling
Never Split The Difference

Then you can look up sales methodologies/trainings that are used by some of the most successful B2B companies in the world: Sandler, MEDDICC, etc...

At the end of the day selling is art and science, it's also highly personal so practicing your people skills and learning how to create genuine human connection during these transactional and transitional relationships is huge. It also REALLY helps if you're interested in and believe in what you're selling, be it a product, service, idea etc.

[ertyu]

I know someone who works in sales, she got her last job by giving a presentation on a product she uses and loves. They literally had all the candidates give a sales pitch on sth they're invested in

[guitarplayer]

It depends on what you're trying to sell.....but a good place to start is some books;

Winning Friends & Influencing People
The Challenger Sale
Let's Get Real or Let's not Play
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Gap Selling
Never Split The Difference

At the end of the day selling is art and science, it's also highly personal so practicing your people skills and learning how to create genuine human connection during these transactional and transitional relationships is huge.

Thanks.

It also REALLY helps if you're interested in and believe in what you're selling, be it a product, service, idea etc.

Yes, also then 'believe in yourself' gets a new meaning.

[grundomatic]

We used the Sullivision system at the restaurant I managed, it's focused on retail and restaurant type sales. The emphasis seemed to be on suggestive selling, making the assumption that of course everyone wants to buy everything possible, so offer it to them. From the manager side, reminding everyone to do these things. Daily.

I forget what the system was I learned for car sales and the one for bike sales. In both the idea was to make a connection with the other side over absolutely anything besides the product in order to build trust, and then listen to what it is they actually want before making any suggestions. Then listening to and overcoming objections, showing how your product precisely fills their desires, which you know because you actually listened.

Like a lot of business stuff, it may seem obvious, but it isn't to everyone. Is there a reason you are asking about sales?

[guitarplayer]

I got feedback on presenting myself in an interview situation, something like 'I think there's lots of stuff there that you do and lots you can show for yourself; what you have to work on is projecting an image of a capable person who "get things done", "own the work", "is the go to person"'. Which I am; I often think that 'I just can't be bothered to do all this sales / self promotion stuff' but I am just now thinking 'well but can I do it in the first place but don't bother, or maybe this is a real challenge?' - in which case if the latter, then it can be worked like any challenge, for example getting a degree in Maths which was my challenge a while back.

As you will gather by now, there is little difference in my mind between selling shoes, cars, software, or oneself (just strip the everyday negative connotation of 'selling oneself'). Though I appreciate it makes a world of a difference if you believe in what you are trying to sell. Hence the 'believe in yourself' from my previous comment.

[Stasher]

I have been in sales in one aspect or another for over 25 years, the very first thing you need to clarify and look at it what type of sales. The world of relationship sales vs technical sales are so radically different.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks @Stasher. I see @2B1S said the same, but I think the recommendation on the good place to start up above is the good spot for me. In some cases these will be re-reads, I had Cialdini at uni.

I am green in terms of sales and will not become a top commission earner, (n)ever (say never). Think equivalent situation to gaining a good command of +, - * and / for basic* house economics.

*or more advanced, after all that all you need for a huge chunk of maths.

[guitarplayer]

Or another way to put what I am after is that there is occasionally a false dichotomy which sneaks into my thinking which I derive from the premise that if something works, then work speaks for itself. Therefore, the false dichotomy goes, selling is always tinted by deception, if someone tries to sell me something, it is not worth my attention; it is things that are not advertised that are worth my attention. Turn this around to get: prove your worth with your work but do not talk about it. But this rests on a false premise.

So I am now getting to the point of fixing that logic in terms of my work and outputs, or more broadly: actions. And I think getting to grips with sales on a basic level is going to be useful here.

[grundomatic]

I got feedback on presenting myself in an interview situation, something like 'I think there's lots of stuff there that you do and lots you can show for yourself; what you have to work on is projecting an image of a capable person who "get things done", "own the work", "is the go to person"'. Which I am; I often think that 'I just can't be bothered to do all this sales / self promotion stuff' but I am just now thinking 'well but can I do it in the first place but don't bother, or maybe this is a real challenge?' - in which case if the latter, then it can be worked like any challenge, for example getting a degree in Maths which was my challenge a while back.

As you will gather by now, there is little difference in my mind between selling shoes, cars, software, or oneself (just strip the everyday negative connotation of 'selling oneself'). Though I appreciate it makes a world of a difference if you believe in what you are trying to sell. Hence the 'believe in yourself' from my previous comment.

I have been in sales in one aspect or another for over 25 years, the very first thing you need to clarify and look at it what type of sales. The world of relationship sales vs technical sales are so radically different.

No matter what you are selling, it's about aligning the needs/wants of the buyer with what the seller has. In car sales, there is not a large difference between what dealers have to offer, thus managing the relationship becomes critical for the salesperson. In technical sales, the buyer may have very specific needs, in which case the product and/or knowledge of the product being sold becomes more important. The relationship part doesn't go away, though. My Exxon connection would figuratively ram his head against the wall when he found out how some decisions were made. "Why do we have this and not that?" "The salesperson took me out to lunch."

For a job interview, you have to demonstrate that the product (you) meets the desires/needs of the buyer. You'll glean this information both before and during the interview. You could do something like guess the top 5 things the employer is looking for before the interview, then come up with examples ahead of time illustrating how you have those traits or can do those things. However, you'll also want to look for clues during the interview that may indicate other things they are looking for, and make sure you address those, too.

Just did a preview and saw this:

Or another way to put what I am after is that there is occasionally a false dichotomy which sneaks into my thinking which I derive from the premise that if something works, then work speaks for itself. Therefore, the false dichotomy goes, selling is always tinted by deception, if someone tries to sell me something, it is not worth my attention; it is things that are not advertised that are worth my attention. Turn this around to get: prove your worth with your work but do not talk about it. But this rests on a false premise.

So I am now getting to the point of fixing that logic in terms of my work and outputs, or more broadly: actions. And I think getting to grips with sales on a basic level is going to be useful here.

Since a potential employer can't often see the past work you've done, you have to tell about it. You aren't deceiving, you are just demonstrating how you have what they want. Feel free to shoot 'em straight and shop for other buyers if they can't see the value.

Interviewees do also need to "show" as well as tell. I don't want to hear about being organized from someone that showed up late with no questions for me because they couldn't find their shoes.

[guitarplayer]

Yeah no @grundomatic I have mentioned deceit but I am aware this is a sort of thinking error.

All what you write is roughly in line with reading stuff on the Internet when I do a brief search.

I am not certain on the straightforwardness of the process in that the buyer knows what they want or need and the seller just rationally informs what they offer. There’s always got to be the ‘they took me out for lunch’ factor, which perhaps disproportionately drives the outcome.

Yeah, I want to think some more about this stuff.

[grundomatic]

I am not certain on the straightforwardness of the process in that the buyer knows what they want or need and the seller just rationally informs what they offer.

Ha! So right! It's a simplification, but it's a place to start. If you want to go beyond that and learn how people really make decisions, then out comes personality types, ego development models, the dreaded spiral dynamics, behavioral economics, etc. Then you have to study/practice reading people in order to put the knowledge to use.

[ertyu]

what you have to work on is projecting an image of a capable person who "get things done", "own the work", "is the go to person"'

A lot of the original "prductivity bro" / personal development stuff originates in seminars given to salespeople. Dale Carnegie, of How to Win Friends and Influence People, used to give seminars to salespeople and wrote the book partly because he noticed how many were lacking in basic social skills. More recently, the entire rah-rah Tony Robinson genre of motivational speaking also had its roots in psyching oneself up, etc., with a lot of emphasis on changing one's emotions via changing one's physical state: having an upright, expansive posture, smiling, breathing a certain way to change one's mood, raising one's arms while shouting YES!, going, EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY I AM GETTING STRONGER AND STRONGER and so forth. Where I am going with all this is that when it comes to selling, including selling oneself interpersonally such as in an interview setting, one's body state and "vibe" matters. You might want to, while sitting quietly or meditating, try to imagine what it would feel like in your body if you were indeed "a capable person who "get things done", "own the work", "is the go to person"'' who effortlessly radiates this vibe. You're going to encounter closeness and tension at the idea of projecting these qualities, go investigate that and release it. What would it be like to exist while projecting these qualities outwardly as a matter of course, without tension or posturing or pretense? How would it feel in your body? How would you be holding your back, neck, shoulders? What quality and timbre would your voice have? How would others react to you? How would they treat you, what vibe would you have mirrored back to you, and how would it make you feel?

If you would like, do self-administered EMDR to anchor this feeling. You might want to use worksheets such as this one or this one. You could use a self-administered youtube video with a moving ball/binaural sound or give yourself a "butterfly hug" (youtube this). The important part here is that, as opposed to traditional trauma processing, you should keep the sets short (the worsheets specify sth like 4-8 side-to-side eye movements or taps at a time), have breaks between sets, and stop if the emdr starts "pulling out" any traumatic or unpleasant memories, in which case you should refocus back on re-anchoring to feeling your desired state before you proceed. This "resourcing" use of EMDR is safe to do on your own; therapists often give it as homework to "severely underresourced" patients who are deemed too unstable or upset to handle regular therapy - so it's the first step in trauma treatment that even a severely fucked up person can do on their own.