What’s the difference between succeeding in sales and doing well in other executive jobs? Of course, there are as many differences as there are between lawyers and the rest, or doctors, or accountants. But there is one fundamental difference most people wouldn’t know about – selling intelligence.
Scientists, and economists, and doctors, and accountants are all intelligent, undeniably. But that’s a different type of intelligence. Their’s is about thinking in straight lines, following somebody else’s rules, and being smart about complying with them. Whereas sales professionals follow their own. Their rule book is all about flexibility. Flexibility when it comes to method, and timing, and discipline, and decisions about whether to chase a deal, or close it, or walk away from it.
There’s no such thing as a right way to sell – only ways which work, and whichever way works is dependent on the multi dimensional puzzle presented by this particular prospect, buying this particular product, in these particular circumstances, and this particular time.
Selling intelligence is street smart. It’s about exploring, and probing, and questioning, and responding. It’s about empathy, and tenacity and honesty, and reality. It’s about knowing there are barriers, finding them and routes around them. It’s about always being prepared to walk away, and doing that when the deal won’t work.
Where does that street smart come from?
It comes from trying, and getting it wrong, and trying, and getting it right.
And it comes from war stories – tales sales people tell each other in the bar after a hard day on the road.
You can find lots of those war stories in our series Sales Stories From The Front Line where we’ve published some of those we like.
And you can find even more in this blog under our sales stories label.
Some time in the near future we’ll be publishing our new eBook with all these stories in a fun to read, easy to digest, format. Watch this space for news.
