“Selling is….”

Sometimes we need to back up to move forward.

To be a good salesperson (as measured by effectiveness) can mean experimenting and doing things differently (especially where we have been ineffective). It can feel like two steps forward and one step back. It felt like that for me when I was asked to define selling….by someone who said that they didn’t want to be a ‘pushy’ salesperson AND wanted to be successful.

I didn’t answer right away, as I wanted time to consider and not just respond with an old definition that may no longer represent what I have learned and experienced. What I came up with is bigger than the individual sale itself, yet considers each sale, each time. I wanted it to cross all industries (Amazon doesn’t sell, it fills orders and generates revenue) and types of selling. And I wanted it to reflect the humanity of selling, done well.

This definition requires the seller to be: Interested in the buyer and what they are out to accomplish or solve. It acknowledges that selling occurs between a skilled professional who is directing the interaction with questions to the buyer that will help them distinguish what they want, need, envision. Then the seller can offer a solution that the buyer will accept. And it means that the seller needs to also understand that where the buyer is in their buying process is critical to the type of outcome that can be achieved today…and that an outcome (to sell or forward the sale) CAN and will happen with a skilled practitioner at the helm.

Think about this for a while and let me know what you think.

Now, go sell something.

oxo

Jody