“Successful selling is a process. It is about being, not doing. Successful sales managers midwife the being process because they know it inevitably delivers success in the doing.”
“You’ve changed.”
These words are the ultimate validation for the salesperson set to take off. Regrettably, they are words few salespeople get to hear.
You see, there’s a mental, emotional, and physical cost associated with becoming a salesperson. Few are willing to pay it because it dislodges them from, well, themselves.
You don’t become good at sales (or riding a bike) by, say, reading 100 sales (or riding) books. You become good by having conversations. Getting rejected. Asking better questions. Handling objections. Following up. Closing. Reviewing what happened. Then doing it again. Sales is a skill. Skills require reps. Get on the damn bike!
Successful selling is a process. Those who weather the storm sell themselves to the emotional and mental process of being—not the unsustainable physical arrival of the result (doing).
Here are three examples.
Pride: the trap of hubris
Successful selling is a process that pride frustrates.
When an institution (say, a bank) negotiates to have a sales desk at a premises (say, of a large employer or market like Gikomba), pride won’t let the ‘doing’ salesperson reach out to the staff or woo them over. He will instead reason: “They have been told there is a sales desk at their premises. If they don’t want to come over and register, shauri yao” (that’s their problem).
When a pride-powered salesperson is given a lead by his boss, he expects the lead to automatically buy. Likewise, when he has pitched only once.
And why? “I can’t be seen to be following him up like a dog—or asking for the cheque.”
Pride is debilitating in sales. Yet it’s not pride; it’s hubris. Foolish pride. The kind that leads to complaining that “Juma stole my sale.”
Of course, he did. You warmed up the prospect and left him hanging. Juma was hungry enough to follow up to the close.
Being means learning how to stoop to conquer (humility)—but not stooping to be kicked on the backside, as hubris assumes.
Rejection. The seller’s nightmare.
Rejection is painful. Make no mistake about it.
Whether they will admit it or not, the number one reason most people shun selling is pro-active avoidance of that two-letter word, NO! For the hawker it shows in your rolling up the window as he approaches; as for the insurance sales agent, it could be, being told “Kageche is not in”, only for the agent to spot him hiding in the kitchen.
And for the business-to-business salesperson it could be, being given the run-around after months of negotiations, over signing of the contract to install the generator, only to be casually told, “We bought one three weeks ago. Weren’t you told?”
There is no starting by doing in overcoming rejection. You cannot simply brush it off because you’ve been told that’s how it’s handled. Doing so piles it up and soon— “Crack! —you break.
Successful selling is a process.
Read: Bounce back from rejection with positive attitude
Successful selling is a process
Like one mourning, remaining afloat in an ocean of rejection means acknowledging the pain and learning to give it a different meaning. It’s most painful when the meaning is personalized—that is, insisting it’s me they are rejecting.
Give it a different meaning, like a hawker does when you roll up the window and he strolls over to the next car. “Oh, well, not today. He must have had a bad day.” Or “Maybe not biscuits today, but possibly he’ll roll it down when it’s lanterns tomorrow, and he’s experiencing a blackout.”
Read: 3 reasons why rejection stings less when you have more prospects
Accountability: the buck starts and ends with you
You can delegate a desk job, and teamwork can thrive in the hierarchical (corporate) pyramid. Sales is different. Successful selling is a process where the buck starts and ends with the thriving salesperson.
He knows back office is there to support him, but he’s also not the King of Wishful Thinking.
The salesperson who is doing draws a line where his job—as defined by him—ends. “I brought the contract, and processing the order is not my job.”
The one who is growing (being) develops relations—sells—internally as he does externally. He invests in these relationships and takes the rap when the client is unhappy, even though it’s not his direct fault.
Read: Here’s how to break the stalemate with ‘slow back-office’
Being grows the salesperson to take 100% responsibility for the sale. Doing blames.
The midwife of being
Successful selling is a process. Effective sales managers efficiently midwife the being process because they know it inevitably delivers success in the doing. And for you, the salesperson, the payoff is not just in the results—it is in the transformation.
And you’ll know when you arrive when you hear the magic words: “You’ve changed.”
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