What Great Salespeople Do

I have enjoyed a lazy few days (lazy even though there was lots of working out - although lots of food so it likely was a net zero). e-mails and calls have been few. My productivity is actually quite low. Or perhaps my important productivity is quite high.

Although I'm not caught my normal frantic pace, I have had some time to think.

Part of my thinking led me to my views on being long-term. I posted a blog post on the Canrock site with my views.

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Life is about selling. I read a great book by Michael Bosworth and Ben Zoldan called What Great Sales People Do–the science of selling through emotional connection and the power of story.

The book talks about the power of stories so of course it is filled with interesting stories.

What great salespeople do boils down to 5 things:

Vulnerable–sales people are willing to show their vulnerability. They do not need to be perfect.

Caring–great salespeople show their caring.

Authentic–great salespeople are authentic ( this ties into the caring, people know if caring is fake)

Listen–great salespeople are great listeners. I personally recall many meetings where I said very little and the customer was impressed. People like to be listened to.

Storyteller–people like to listen to stories. People remember stories. People retell stories.

The book goes on to elaborate on each of these 5 characteristics and includes examples of where they might be used. It also tells us how to improve in each one of those key areas.

One cute story used for illustration in the book (to show a lack of understanding and functioning on a purely intellectual level) comes from a movie I enjoyed - The Social Network. In the scene, Erica is trying to break up with her boyfriend Zuckerberg. Typed verbatim ( so mom excuse the language):

Erica–"Going out with you is like dating a stairmaster. I think we should just be friends."
Zuckerberg - "I don't want to be friends"
Erica– " I was just being polite I have no intention of being friends with you. Look you're probably going to be a very successful computer person. But if you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you are a nerd. I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true it be because you are an a&*hole"

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Speaking of movies, I quite enjoyed the conspiracy theory movie " Who killed the electric car" on a recent flight. It is an excellent documentary worth watching. There was one line in the movie that struck me:" people want us(Americans) to live like Europeans" and it was said as if that was a bad thing. And I did take it out of context so you have to watch the movie.

I hope for the world in 2012 is that the environmental tide changes and people start thinking more about conservation and treating the world right.