Tweet

Beginning Sales Tips: The Wisdom Of SW 4

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Present your offering to qualified prospects. Some will buy (though you may have to handle a couple of objections to make them comfortable with their buying decision). Some won't. So what? There are other qualified prospects out there waiting for you to help them make buying decisions that could literally change their lives....

Beginning Sales Tips: The Wisdom Of SW 4

Don't Give Prospects Power Over Your Success You are a salesperson. You might call yourself a nurse, but every day you have to "sell" your patients more comfort in their health care and wellbeing. Your job title might be "rock star," but any professional performer first learns the lesson that a song has to be "sold" in every performance. Your business card might say "Chief Executive Officer," but you know you are always selling - to shareholders, to executives, to the rank-and-file, to the press, to customers.

Even my friends and clients who are management consultants, and who hold dearly the cultural notion that they must never cover their firm with the shame of "salesmanship," know that their jobs depend on their ability to influence their clients... to "sell" ideas and proposals in order to ensure buy-in and implementation.

So if you're a salesperson, you should be an excellent one. And excellent salespeople embrace the wisdom of such concepts as "SW 4" to ensure they do not become too emotionally invested in overcoming the natural sales resistance of their prospective clients and customers. They believe in the products and services they have to offer, and they know there are people out there looking for those offerings. The market is out there, waiting for the professional salesperson to help them buy the solutions they need.

So the pro doesn't give prospects power over their success. They know they're not paid to get everyone to say "yes," but to sift-and-sort, and to search for the people who've already said "yes" but have yet to find what they're looking for - and what the pro salesperson is offering. So they constantly remember their four SW phrases - "SW 4" - to remind them that professional selling is a search, not a sweep.

"Some Will."

"Some Won't."

"So What?"

"Someone's Waiting."

Present your offering to qualified prospects. Some will buy (though you may have to handle a couple of objections to make them comfortable with their buying decision). Some won't. So what? There are other qualified prospects out there waiting for you to help them make buying decisions that could literally change their lives.

My consultant clients often feel they don't have the "so what" option... but the true professionals among them do claim the option, and exercise it often. The stories of engagement managers and directors who've "taken away" a consulting engagement because it wasn't in the client's best interest are stories of lore and legend... and the consultants who have the guts to refuse such studies (and the accompanying high fees) generally become legends themselves.

My own doctor holds me to account for my health. If I'm not disciplined enough to keep myself in shape between office visits, he doesn't want me as a patient. And THAT is what makes me respect him enough to be extremely loyal to him as my health care provider!

So be a great salesperson... or nurse, or consultant, or rock star, or CEO. Be kind enough to get good at the central mission of your job: to "sell" others on what you have to offer. And be bold enough to protect the exclusivity of your offering - even if that offering is just your reliable, smiling face at the receptionist's desk - by offering it only to the qualified buyers out there who are committed to making it work for everybody.

Related Articles
  Wisdom
  Differentiation is the Key
  Meaning of Wisdom – It’s a 3-step process
  What should my sales team expect from a successful Sales Coach?
  Smart Women, Dorothy, and the Yellow Brick Road
  Wising up to the world today!
  Seven Sales Tips that Consistently Close Sales
  Why Follow a Sales Process?
  Learning: Secret to Lifelong, Success
  Parable on Leadership Wisdom
  The Road to Wisdom
  Wireline vs. Wireless
  136 Effective Presentation Tips by Tony Jeary and David Cottrell
  Growing Your Business - 7 Tips to Gracefully Manage the Awkward Stage
  Open Mind, Close Mouth
  It Is All About the Buyer
  "Lazy Sales Professional" - An Oxymoron
  Bookkeeping Tips on Tips
  . . . The Wisdom to Know the Difference
  Executive Wisdom for True Leadership - Finding Wisdom

Article Tags: beginning sales tips, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility, SW 4



Related Forum Posts
Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
God's Diet - Very interesting, from both a health perspective and a marketing perspective. Growing up Mormon we were raised on The Word of Wisdom. No coffee, no tea, no junk food, no smoking, no drinking..etc. All good. But I think its harder and harder to find true, pure food these days. And lets face it, I'm not likely to start growing my own produce or keeping cattle..
Re: Using Craigslist SEO to Promote Your Website - Great Craiglist Tips for driving traffic. I can definitely use these to drive traffic to my blog.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Steps to Go from Idea to E-book for Sale

Sales is a Flawed Model

ROSI Return on SUNK Investment

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.