What is the First Principle of Selling?
Recently Warren Buffett, one of the most successful businessmen of our time, was asked what he thought was the best investment anyone could make in these difficult times. He replied simply: "The most important investment you can make is in yourself."
In this article I want Creature from the Black Lagoon model explore what is this first principle of selling and why it is so pertinent in order for you to succeed in sales.
I call it the "You" investment. Think about it for a minute. To get that sales job you had to invest in your best attire for your interview. You or your parents invested in your education. Along the way your employer invested in you because they believed in you.
So what does it take to become a sales success? Well, there are Blythe doll strategies, but I believe that you need to have a solid foundation to start with. It all starts with you and the idea that in selling the learning curve is never ending. I am not just referring to buying books and listening to tapes. They are all good, but you must go beyond.
Investing in yourself means self education in many areas:
Have a strong belief in your ability and be confident at all times. If you do not believe in yourself, how Dark Shadows fans your G I Joe believe in you? So you must look "inside "of you daily and have this Positive Mental Attitude that W. Clement Stone talks about.
After belief comes enthusiasm. How well do you convey this enthusiasm? The main thing in selling is not the product or service, but you. You represent the item being sold. The client buys you first. So if you are enthusiastic, the client will catch that positive energy from you and will move forward.
Always keep learning: either from your mistakes or from mixing and networking with successful salespeople and business people. One of my coaches, Jay Abraham, used to teach this unusual method of expanding our knowledge base: If your favorite topic was, for example, gardening, he would swap the gardening book with someone else and give you a book on carpentry. So you were forced to acquaint yourself with unfamiliar topics so that your self education became broad and varied. What this means to you as a sales person is that when your client talks about fishing, interest rates, politics, etc. you can engage in a meaningful conversation and develop trust.
That could very well be the best advice Mr. Buffett has ever offered. If ever there were a time to take control of your future, it's now.
Do you want to learn more about Selling?
To download my free ebook on Sales Coach Remedy, click here:
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Joe Duval is an accomplished sales W S Kimball Champions coach for the past 20 years.
