Selling… selling… selling.

As a practicing sales manager, I believe selling is like just another trade. There are people who are good at it. Then there are people who are bad at it. Lot of them think they are good and the other lot do not know what the purpose of the trade.  Yesterday was a day when I saw two contrasting selling traits and both of these are not advisable.

Pushy sales: I was talking to a real estate company executive. He wanted me to take a call then and there itself. He was rather pushy. What he does not understand is that the more he pushes me, the more I will be scared to make a decision in his favor.

Pleading sales: Later in the day, an old friend ping-ed on a chat session. The conversation opens stating that he has a big target to meet and he has not achieved much. He wants me to buy because he has to achieve his targets. Talking directly about his bad situation, in a conversation after 15 years, he has earned my pity. But more than pity I did not want to do much, because I do not want to buy something when some in a despair is selling.

So what do I think should be the best nature of a sales person?

1.       Patience: This sounds like a heavy word of dinosaur era, but the sun still rises in east and the word stands the test of time. More than anything a sales person should be patient enough to wait for the customer.

2.       Empathize: As a sales person you should read your customer’s mind. Understand how much time he needs to make a decision. Sometimes he needs to convince other decision makers before taking the call. So help him to convince others, in process he will be convinced himself.

3.       Follow-up: All prospects want to be pampered. They want to be followed-up. Period.

4.       Be confident: No prospect wants to go with a suggestion from a meeky individual. They want assurance that they are doing the right job and that’s given from the sales person’s confidence in the solution.