One of the funny things about sales is that we are guilty until proven innocent. This means sales people live under Napoleonic law versus constitutional law. We inherit every sin every other sales person has committed on our potential buyer or seller. I found this to be true whether I was in Frisco Texas, New York City, or Melbourne Australia.
When asked to choose one adjective to describe a sales person, many of the general public selected sleazy. Can you think of others? When you do are these adjectives considered complimentary? That is why it is critical to differentiate yourself by the way you sell. You want to make yourself different from the general public’s view of sales people.
One of the best ways to do this is to focus on establishing trust. Stephen Covey defined trust as the combination of sincerity and competence. It is hard to fake sincerity. Typically you either are sincere or not. If you are trying to fake sincerity then you should probably move onto another business outside of sales.
To show competence, one of the things I enforce upon myself is to never say anything but facts during the first 30-60 minutes of meeting a potential client. My focus is on asking questions and stating facts. My opinion means nothing to them until I gain their trust. How do you show competence?
Next time you find yourself in a conversation with a customer and it is not going as well as planned, think about how the conversation started. Did you voice opinions or facts? Did you ask questions or make assumptions? Certainly sometimes you have more challenging customers than others. This really depends on the past experience of these customers. Remember you are in sales and you live by Napoleonic law: guilty until proven innocent.
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