Sales and Marketing Training | Sell Yourself First Instead of Selling your Products or Services
There are too many organizations that are focused solely on selling in order to generate revenue. I hear stories all the time of salespeople who make cold calls and try to get someone to buy their products or services during the first exchange. Please stop. This type of approach is archaic, and it insults the person you are chatting with. Spam is spam, regardless of the method by which it is delivered – via the Internet, phone, regular mail, or even in person. So stop selling. Strike that word from your vocabulary, because in business, it can be a dirty word.
The products and services you offer are a means to recognize revenue, but they are not what you should pitch. Instead, you should be introducing yourself and what you stand for – or, in the case of a company, its brand and what it stands for. Fundamentally, there is way too much competition in any given industry for you to focus purely on the items you offer. If you’re really honest, most of the items and services your company offers are comparable to, if not exactly the same as, what your competitors are selling.
If you approach your business in such a way that the quality your customers see is in you and your brand – as opposed to a list of the inventory you have to offer – then you will be positioned for sustainability and growth over the long haul. You cannot get trapped by the idea that simply because your product and services are better, customers will naturally prefer your products and services. Although the quality of your product is very important, the reality is that you and your word are the most important aspect of your success. “Products” are actually secondary to your business.
Don’t get me wrong, if you have a bad product, how great a Relationship Architect you are becomes totally irrelevant: folks will not be making the purchase. But if your product is close to your competitor’s or only slightly behind, the efforts you put forth to make potential customers believe in you and your brand will be the difference that wins and keeps their business.
