What are you afraid of?
As a motivational sales speaker, it’s strange that more people don’t want to go into sales. This is especially true after most of us spent more than a year locked down, and many of our family, friends and neighbors got laid off.
Did you know that according to the U.S. Labor Department, sales reps who sell technical products or services had a median income in 2020 of almost $109,000? Here’s another interesting statistic (Patrick Thomas, Wall Street Journal):
“[As of July 14, 2021] a major an online job platform, shows the number of sales roles advertised has risen steadily this year, up 65% to more than 700,000 open positions around the U.S., after big layoffs decimated the field at the outset of the pandemic a year ago.”
While we have all heard the woes of industries such as foodservice, retail and manufacturing where jobs go begging, why would hundreds of thousands of jobs paying six-figures on average not get filled?
Fear of Sales
Several years ago, author and sales trainer Scott Edinger wrote about fear of selling for the Harvard Business Review:
“Fear stems from the [perception of] equating sales with making people buy things they don’t want, don’t need, and can’t afford.”
As a motivational sales speaker who has had a successful sales career, I explain to my audiences that the last thing a successful sales person wants to do is to push products or services on people, organizations or associations that they don’t need. My goal, always is to help people, to offer them solutions to their problems and to develop long-term, valuable relationships.
Our fear of selling comes from short-sighted images we have witnessed from childhood. We remember used-car salesmen or unscrupulous clerks. Professional sales people must be the opposite.
Professional selling calls for product knowledge, understanding customer needs and being a facilitator. We are there to serve and to help. In my motivational speeches for sales teams, I stress that every successful sales person must have three unwavering goals that they must always possess. If you have these qualities, you will be professional in attitude and purpose.
- You must always have a clear vision. No matter your area of sales expertise, what is your vision for your client? Is it to sell and be “one and done,” or to help them solve a problem such as increasing productivity, improving quality or safeguarding their families? Whatever it is, hold onto that vision and make it work for them – and you.
- You must always have a resolute mindset. It was author Napoleon Hill who said “There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge. Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.” I might say the same to every successful sales person. If your mindset as a salesperson is to be successful at your career, you will be. If you want to be filled with fear, you will have that too. The choice is yours. Have a mindset of who you are.
- You must always have the grit to get better every day. If you get knocked down one day, for any reason, have the grit to get back up, learn from your mistakes and keep going.
In the end, what should you be afraid of? Only of not helping enough, trying enough or being determined enough. “Fear” is a luxury for those without vision, mindset and grit. You have all three if you believe they are there.
For more information on booking Scott Burrows, Motivational Sales Speaker, contact Scott today through this website or his office at: (520) 548-1169