Last night I stated to a friend that great sales people don’t sound lake sales people. He said, “what do you mean?” I explained: “This is because great sales people have learned that the most effective way to communicate with people is to sound natural.” It’s a fact that if you are not selling then you are not in business. And I think everyone in sales agrees with the fact that people buy from people they know, like and trust.

Usually when we think of a salesperson as a person with commission breath, a person who is out for themselves, who’s pushy and always trying to close us. When we want to buy something or want help, who do we talk to? We talk to people who have some expertise in the area and who we enjoy talking with about that topic. This is something I was really lucky to learn very early in my career. The majority of salespersons learn this in the middle of their careers and then it’s a tough transition to unlearn and re-learn.

If you are able to have natural, organic conversations with people about what they care about and the challenges they are facing, then you have hit the sweet spot of selling. Too many salespersons think that it’s our insights and messaging that’s our gift, but this stuff puts us in the “sales rep zone”. When you are in that zone, then you are a commodity - What is it? How does it work? How is it different? What’s the price? - And if you are being treated like this, then it’s because you sound like a salesperson. Contact me via e-mail to arrange a sales training workshop for your organisation.