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Selling Attitude!

Written by: Paul Donehue

Article Overview: Selling is a people business. People buy from people, and most often, from people that they like. But what makes one sales rep more likeable than the next? Surely all, or at least most sellers try to be likeable! Attitude makes the difference.

Selling Attitude!

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -W.W. Ziege

Selling is a people business. People buy from people, and most often, from people that they like. But what makes one sales rep more likeable than the next? Surely all, or at least most sellers try to be likeable!

Attitude makes the difference.

A positive attitude is not only easily recognizable, but it's catchy. Sellers who possess truly positive attitudes "assume the close." They honestly expect the best from customers and prospects, and they offer their personal best as well. They tend to react to things positively and, more importantly, tend to bring about positive reactions from others.

Christine Harvey asks a pertinent question in her book, Successful Selling. "What are the chances that your customer will be positive if you aren't? The answer is zero."

But it's not easy to be truly positive! Especially when so much of selling tends to be negative.

In his book Selling 101, Michael McGaulley writes, "Despite all the people one meets, selling is a lonely profession. They [sales people] may feel isolated, and not understand that selling is a matter of working through the nos to find the few yes responses that make it all worthwhile."

Successful sales people know and understand this concept -- and react positively to the negative responses that they know are all part of the cycle. Many sales professionals will readily admit that they "look for the nos," because it is only then that they can actually sell something.

A positive attitude is a pre-requisite to long-termed sales success. We must first believe in our products and services, as well as in our companies and ourselves before we can expect customers or prospects to do so.

Every sales person and every sales manager should recognize the importance of developing and maintaining such an attitude within themselves and within their organizations.

A final testimonial to this discipline is a poem, author unknown, entitled The Winner. The final verse:

Life's battles don't always go

to the stronger or faster man;

but sooner or later the man who wins

is the fellow who thinks he can.

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Article Tags: positive attitude, sales, sales management, sales skills, selling, selling skills



Related Forum Posts
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Hi Barry, Thank you for a great post and to all the members for your excellent comments. I can only agree that attitude plays a big part. This business is about identifying the niche you want to work in, how you are going to get traffic then how you are going to get sign ups to your product or service. Sadly. a lot of people give up early because their attitude is all wrong as they expect success without laying the foundations before they start and without the right attitude they are doomed to failure. regards, Mal.
Re: What can You Learn from a Jobless and Homeless Woman? - Alan, I definitely agree that a person needs all of those things. I think for me, it was the positive attitude that was the most important. If I woke up with a "defeated" attitude, I knew I had to do something to snap me out of it quickly. Either read a few chapters from a Zig Ziglar book or the Bible. I'm sure everyone has their own little routine.
Re: Quote of the Day - John Johnson - Hi Evan, Thanks for the link; I love Johnson’s quotes and his attitude to life in general. The fact that he started to make his millions during a time when it was really tough for African Americans to succeed makes his story even more remarkable. I particularly like his attitude to retirement as he kept working right up until his death and I happen to believe that retirement is a matter of choice if possible and not compulsory but unfortunately most people don’t get that chance. regards, Mal.
Re: Which is the best for beginners? - Hi Apu, I think one good way for Internet beginners to start is to experiment with selling stuff on eBay. In my own case I began by making a website about Japanese mahjong and then tried selling some mahjong goods on it. It worked! Actually, I remember that before I tried selling mahjong goods I experimented with selling other kinds of thing such as Japanese comics on eBay and things like that. I only got into affiliate marketing later on, and used the money I was making selling goods to fund my experiments with affiliate and network marketing.
Re: What makes a good sales rep? - That's so true. If you don't truly believe in your product/s, I believe the average Joe can sense that you don't. If you aren't selling something you believe in, you should quit and find something you do even if it means a loss of income for a while. The overall reward will be greater in the end because you will end up selling more.


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