Feb 25
What Are You Selling?
Whether you are a salesperson or not, you practice the art of sales at some point during the day. It could be selling an idea to a colleague, convincing a family member where to go for dinner or sharing thoughts on the current state of society, anytime you want someone to accept our point of view you are selling.
So why do professional sales people get a bad rap?
Do you really believe when someone’s thoughts are followed by a monetary exchange for a product or service their values are compromised, they become totally unscrupulous and they no longer care about the customer? Most likely not but often you can’t tell the difference between quality salespeople and the rest because they tend to sound the same.
The difference is “Selling With Noble Purpose” by Lisa Earle McLeod. In her book she emphasizes impact on the customer over profit. “Profits are the result of your work, not the sole purpose of your efforts.”
A Noble Sales Purpose answers 3 questions:
- What impact do you and your company have on customers?
- How are you different from the competition?
- On your best day, what do you love about your job?
“Purpose is the difference you’re trying to make. Mission is how you do it. Vision is how you see the world after you’ve done your purpose and mission.”
Selling with Noble Purpose prompts deeper questions for working with clients:
- How does our process affect your customers?
- How might we improve our process to benefit our customers?
- What are our customers’ goals?
- What kinds of products/services will help them achieve those goals?
- What problems do our customers encounter?
- How can you solve those problems?
- What skills do you/your team need to make your customers more successful?
- How can we tailor our promotions to better serve our customers?
- How will your customer be different as a result of doing business with you?
Go deep with purpose and you will never have to “sell.”
