It is important for you to appreciate that you are not merely involved in sales. Selling is your career. You’re a professional.
There is a vast difference, that you must never lose sight of.
The dictionary describes a professional as someone “engaged in a specific activity as one’s main paid occupation”. It also describes a profession as ” a vocation or calling that involves some branch of advanced learning”.
It is clear that both these definitions are appropriate descriptions of the work in which you are involved and distinguishes you as a professional..
Everyone is involved in selling:
When you come to think about it, everyone is involved in selling in some way or another. Selling is persuasion and negotiation.
Think of a small child and parents in a department store. The child sees a
tempting toy; gains attention by dragging the parents towards the item; then begs the parents to buy the highly desired item.
In return the child promises to reward the parents in a variety of ways.
The promises are tempting: Never to nag again; permanent good behavior; eating vegetables and other appealing forms of behavior.
The child is an excellent natural negotiator and the parents, sold on the idea, agree to keep their side of the bargain!
Or consider the politician, who attempts to persuade constituents to vote for him, promising in return increased benefits. The preacher promises spiritual satisfaction for adherence to a certain moral and ethical code.
Everyone in every calling offers something in return for something else.
There is hardly an aspect of life that does not contain the same elements. The difference between your occupation and that of a doctor, lawyer, dentist, accountant, teacher – to use just a few examples – is the nature of the service being offered.
Never forget you are a professional.
Your occupation is your main source of income. As a professional your occupation required some form of advanced learning. The fact that some professions involve a greater length of time in the learning process is irrelevant.
Like everything in life, your success in your chosen profession depends on your skills.
Of course you already possess certain skills. But like all professionals, you are very much aware how important it is for you to improve your skills.
Selling, as you well know, is a skill. It is a skill that can be improved with training.
The importance of a positive attitude.
Many people involved in sales unfortunately have a negative attitude unworthy of their profession. They feel that in some ways it is not as prestigious as other more glamorous or charismatic professions.
To some extent this has been due to an unfortunate stereotype that has been perpetuated in literature, the cinema and T.V.
The Salesman is often portrayed as an overbearing, or cunning,devious person who will use any means to trick unwary customers to buy a product of dubious quality.
Sometimes the Salesman is depicted as a struggling, loser who drifts from one job to another.
Consider the type of person many people have been conditioned to think of as the “typical” car salesman. This unfortunate stereotype persists.
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Some professional sales people come to accept this completely fallacious, demeaning view of themselves as accurate!
Often there is a tendency to belittle oneself and not attach sufficient importance to the very important role played in our economic system.
As any economist will tell you, nothing could be further from the truth. The salesperson is an absolutely essential cog in the wheel of our democratic, free enterprise system and our capitalist economy.
Without this vital link between the producer and the final customer commerce would grind to a halt.
Compare your career with those of others.
Have you ever stopped to compare your vocation with that of someone involved in what might be considered a more glamorous profession?
A close examination of many occupations will reveal that in many cases the work is tedious, dull, boring and monotonous in the extreme.
I mean no disrespect to the important work carried out by people involved in other professions, but can you imagine yourself having to cope day after day with the physically demanding profession of dentistry for example?
Can you visualize yourself continually examining the teeth of patients, day after day, hour after hour?
I had an interesting experience a short while ago. It re-enforces the idea that not all professions are as attractive and as charismatic as they may seem on the surface.
The son of a friend of mine is an airline pilot with an international airline.
Can you think of an occupation that presents as much glamour and prestige in the eyes of the public?
But in a recent discussion with him I was very surprised indeed to discover that he found his career monotonous and boring. He seriously considered changing his career, even though it would mean a considerable drop in salary.
The rewards of a selling career.
As you will appreciate, everything depends on your attitude to your work. Selling, as a profession can be exciting, stimulating, satisfying and immensely rewarding financially.
Every day presents new challenges. There are no limits to the goals you can set yourself.
You can look forward to each day with eager anticipation. Unlike many other profession it is never boring.
And, as has been pointed out, it is important to continually improve your skills and levels of expertise. The rewards you receive will be commensurate with your effort.
Devote yourself to becoming proficient in every aspect of your profession.
Improve your product knowledge so that you are regarded as an expert in the particular field in which you specialize. There is no end to the possibilities and the challenges.