Visualize Yourself as a Sales Professional

Can you visualize yourself as a sales professional? What do you think about sales professionals? Have you ever considered a career in sales? Do you have impressions like the following?

• sales professionals pushy and aggressive…..Some may be, but they tend to alienate today’s customer. It is more important for sales professionals to be knowledgeable of customer needs, to be able to provide solutions for customers, and to work with customers in a consultative way.
• sales professionals must be very talkative…..Keep in mind that each of us has two ears and one mouth and the best sales professionals use them proportionally as they seek to develop and maintain relationships with their customers. Sales professionals must listen to customers’ needs, wants, preferences and concerns if they are to be able to provide real value and real solutions to their customers. Sales professionals seek to understand, first.
• sales professionals have no ethics. OK, so you have been a buyer from a salesperson who has “ripped you off”? Every profession has its share (unfortunately) of these ne’er do wells. Did you go back to that salesperson to get “ripped of’ again? Not likely. Today’s sales professionals place their customers’ interests at the forefront. Professional selling is more about relationships than it is about transactions. Trust is a key ingredient in any sales career that provides a foundation for sustainable competitive advantage.
• you think you were not born a sales professional. No one is born anything. Michael Jordan practiced a lot to become a great basketball player. Mozart practiced a lot to become a great composer. People who excel at something work hard, have a passion for it, are motivated to excel and are willing to practice often.
• you think the Internet will replace sales professionals…..The truth is that the wealth of information and the increasing availability of information technologies can create the conundrum known as information overload for customers, which will actually increase the need for sales professionals. But it will change the nature of the jobs that sales professionals do.

Have things like the above prevented you from thinking about a career in professional sales. Before you leave The Professional Selling Web Page, please click on Can You Be a Successful Sales Professional? To see how you might fit in a professional sales career.