If Selling Is So Simple Why Can't Everyone Do It?

If Selling Is So Simple Why Can't Everyone Do It?
How many people do you know who have tried selling at some
point in their lives? Out of all of those people, how many
failed?

The answer to the first question is easy, probably quite a
few. At some point or other in their lives many people have
had a go at selling even if only as a student or in their
first job. You may not know the answer to the second one...
it's probably most of them!

Probably most of them.

Oh, for sure, they'll tell you that they did well. They'll
tell you that they sold bucket loads! They'll tell you that
they were a top sales performer. They'll even talk
knowledgeably about how to sell. It's amazing what a good
game people who only sold for a few weeks and never had any
sales training can talk! They'll talk about open questions
and wants and needs like they know what they're talking
about but... seriously... most of them failed!

Not all, but most!

Top salespeople lead an enviable life. They earn great
money. They win promotions. They have job security. They
have respect, opportunity and friends. They have freedom,
career choices and financial independence. They have fun,
challenge and variety.

So if you had all of that, why would you leave? Mostly only
if you weren't getting those things at all! I met a friend
of a friend in the pub the other night and he looked
scathingly at me when I said that I was a sales training
expert and told me that he left sales for "more security"
and opportunity. He earns in a month what I earn in a day.
I recently heard that his company are looking to "cut back"
in his department. Nuff said!

But why this tirade? And why today?

Simple. This week I worked with a really great team of
salespeople. They were enthusiastic, interested, open and
up for it. They embraced the fact that selling is simple
and they wanted to master those simple skills. Sales is so
simple in fact that nearly anyone could be very successful
in sales. So simple that everyone in the room could achieve
sales success if they chose to go for it...

So if selling is so simple why can't everyone do it?

Because selling is about attitude. Selling is an attitude.
Selling is an attitude that leaves behind a trail of
techniques. Now don't get me wrong here... sales skills are
very important, very important indeed. Anyone who has been
through a sales training programme with me or who has
attended one of my sales seminars will know just how
important I believe sales skills are...

But they're not the key factor in this equation. They're
only a part of the equation. And on the other side of that
equation is attitude. Without the right attitude you won't
be able to access your skills. Frankly, without the right
attitude, you're in trouble. If you can get and maintain
the right attitude then you will make a success of yourself
in sales and selling. Period. If you can't, you won't. It's
goodnight sweetheart!

I would far rather hire someone with all of the right
attitudes and potential and train them on the skills side
than I would wrestle with someone with all of the skills
and experiences who cannot be bothered any more! The former
salesperson I can train because they want to learn, the
latter I have to re-motivate and re-educate. Possible but
much harder...

You've probably worked with or recruited a salesperson who
had all of the right attitudes but was light on skills.
They probably did pretty well. It usually gets put down to
"beginner's luck" but it's not "beginner's luck", its
"beginner's attitude".

And it's at this point that many people not in sales might
be tempted to conclude that sales and selling is easy.
Something for thickos, something that anyone can do.

Just so wrong!

The hardest thing in the world is getting, keeping,
maintaining and improving the right attitude. In sales you
never know when you might run into someone who is going to
be your best ever client. You never know if the next sales
call is going to win you a multi-million account. You never
know which meetings are going to convert and which aren't...

And this makes it hard because you have to be on top sales
form for every call. Top sales form for every presentation.
Top sales form for every meeting. Top sales form for every
negotiation. Top sales form for every conversation. Top
sales form for every communication. Top sales form. Top
sales form. Top sales form.

Not for you the mindless "going through the motions" that
some non-salespeople can get away with for periods of time.
You have to be switched on, tuned in, fully focused, up for
it, raring to go, playing from a 10, on the ball...

Salespeople often say to me that cold calling (for example)
is repetitive and boring...

Wrong attitude! You have to be on top sales form for every
call. It might be your 47th call of the week or the day but
it is your client or prospect's first experience of you.
You have to be on top form, you have no safety net!

To make matters worse, salespeople get faced with problems
and challenges every day. Difficulties, challenges, issues,
rejection and objection are a part and parcel of our daily
lives and we need to smile through them and stay on top
sales form.

So if selling is so simple, why can't everyone do it?

Because selling is about taking personal responsibility for
your own attitude, your own behaviours and your own
results. Selling is about smiling when you don't feel like
smiling. Listening when you don't feel like listening,
Caring when you don't want to care. Standing up when you
feel like lying down. Pushing on when you feel like giving
up. Firing on all cylinders when you feel like throttling
down. Taking responsibility when you want to pass the buck.

Selling provides virtually unrivaled opportunities for
anyone who is prepared to commit themselves. Your degree
won't help you. Your qualifications and exams won't help
you. Your CV won't help you. The only person who can help
you is you. And that's too much of a leveller for most
people.

Handbrake off, safety net removed, crash helmet discarded.

Most people want to blame someone else. It's all about what
they didn't get, who didn't help them, who let them down,
whose fault it is, why they weren't on top form, why they
deserve another chance, why they should have done better...

If you want to maximise your sales performance and be a top
sales performer you need to let all of this go now and
focus on delivering the right attitude at the right time,
no excuses.

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