“Sales is all about helping good people solve problems”
About a few months ago, I asked Nick Rundlett, the sales manager at Toggl, to discuss sales with me for a few minutes. The meeting that followed became a really important one for me, for more reasons than one.
Nick and I had similar underlying philosophies about Sales. But unlike me, Nick also had years of experience and lots of expertise in the field. I had a very valuable discussion that day. Nick liked my drive to learn from him, and, being the amazing guy that he is, invited me to a call that he had founded.
It’s called the sales mastermind, and it is a meeting of some of the finest salespersons in the biz., getting together weekly to solve each other’s problems. For the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of attending it.
By sitting amongst sales veterans and beginners alike, I’ve managed to understand a few things about sales, and it’s time I shared them.
Sales is about helping people find solutions to their problems
There is a lot that I have learned over these past few months, but the very definition of sales was something that I had learned even before.
Sales is essentially about connecting people who have problems, with those who have the solutions. Forcing your product down the throats of customers is not sales. You want to sell your product to people who can use it to solve their problems.
Therefore, when a (good) SDR makes 50 calls a day to potential leads, he is not looking to make a fool out of 50 people and pocket a lot of money. He is looking to make the lives of 50 people easier by giving them what they are looking for. Incidentally, he also happens to make a lot of money.
Sales requires a different kind of perseverance
Sales is a lot like the story of the tortoise and the hare. You know the one, right?The one where the tortoise wins because the hare is just fast while the tortoise is perseverant?
Good salespeople are often termed as the tortoise. In reality, good salespeople cannot afford to have just ONE of these qualities. They are as fast as the hare and as perseverant as the tortoise. They have to hear a LOT of “no.” But as soon as someone slams the phone on their face, they have to get back at it again, working at the same pace as before.
Sales is NOT only for extroverts
In all honestly, if you are very uncomfortable talking to strangers at all, sales might not be a great fit for you. That being said, introverts can make for some really good salespeople. Honestly. In fact, the founder of the sales mastermind army? He’s an introvert.
Introverts can actually have a big advantage over extroverts in sales roles. Introverts listen. And people who listen have a huge edge over just talkers in understanding the true needs of a prospect.
(I recently read about Jordan Belfort’s “straight-line” sales method in an article a friend wrote– apparently, the wolf of wall street is a big advocate of “listening” in sales himself!)
Sales is a creative exercise
Sales allows creative expression and directly rewards it in a way few other roles do. Sales deals with real people, each with different personalities, likes, dislikes, wishes, and tastes. If there’s one thing that’s common in all of them, it’s that everyone hates receiving the same old sales copy that everyone else is sending them.
From subject lines, to call to actions, to tones, every exercise in sales is an attempt to stand out from the others. Those who can achieve this consistently, get generously rewarded.
In fact, here’s a mail that Anna Klawitter wrote that strikes that sweet balance between “amusing personal message” and “sales pitch”-
Sales can be a great place to begin your business career
Sales is a highly valuable skill and translates very easily to almost any field. No matter what you do later on in your business career (or for that matter, any career) having experience in how to sell products will always come in handy (even when you become the product yourself).
However, sales is especially useful to people who want to start their own businesses at some point in their career. It gives them the basic tools necessary to start deriving revenue. Young professionals who start doing sales well can actually (l)earn so much, they won’t have to look outside for expertise (or capital funding).
Remember, Mark Cuban sold garbage bags door to door before he was an internet billionaire. Does he think he learned a lot from that experience? Yes. He does.
So sales excites me. I’ve seen people who embody the true spirit of sales, and I know it would be awesome to join their ranks. Regardless of whether I make it, sales is definitely something I will keep learning, to use in whatever I do with my life.
What about you? (;
P.S- If you are interested in learning more about the sales mastermind and the wonderful people behind it, click here!