Great article by Daniel Disney
This story all started with an avocado....
Sitting eating lunch today I started to discuss my recent healthy eating kick. In a bid to cut down on the amount of bad foods I consume I have decided to make some more healthier meal choices (I'll do this for a few weeks before being tempted back into eating cakes and other treats!).
One of my colleagues who works in our web design team then suggests I eat Avocado as a great healthy food option. I've personally never eaten an avocado before, which is apparently quite shocking!
My colleague goes on to tell me the many ways you can prepare them, serve them and how tasty they are. Now this isn't the first time they've mentioned avocados to me before, we had a similar conversation just a few weeks ago. Apparently they are incredibly nutritious, contain more potassium than bananas, are loaded with fiber, and can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels!
Why wouldn't you want to eat an avocado....?!!
At this point one of my other colleagues then shouts "You should work in Sales!"
They nervously respond:
"Oh no I could never sell anything, I could never ask people to buy something, I would be rubbish at sales"
This is where my response then inspired this post.....
The trick of selling is actually NOT selling!
The moment he thought about selling something he started thinking that he would have to persuade or convince people to buy something that perhaps they didn't want or need. This was a totally different style of thinking and talking compared to when he was telling me about how great avocados were.
When he was telling me about avocados he was trying to help me. He identified that I was eating healthy and trying to find different food choices and had personally experienced how good they were and how they could help me.
If I had told him to go out and sell avocados he would go out trying to persuade people to buy them which isn't easy or effective for anyone to do. This is often where the stereotype of a sales person comes from. Sales people that are targeted and pressured into aggressively selling their product to people.
Don't aim to sell, aim to help...
If you're working in sales don't go out trying to sell something, go out trying to help someone. Use the knowledge you have along with the product and service that you offer to help find solutions for people and businesses.
If you are trying to offer a solution they are less likely to feel threatened, more likely to see the value in what you sell and less likely to worry as much about the price.
My colleague listened to one of my problems, had a solutions and offered his knowledge and experience on it. If he had an avocado on him then I would have bought it!
About the author: Dan is the founder and owner of The Daily Sales, and writes regular posts and blogs on Sales, Social Selling, LinkedIn, Recruitment and Sales Leadership .
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