"I Can Only Sell What I Like"

How many times have you heard this? How many times have you yourself said it? I too have been guilty of it.

The problem with being able to sell only what you like or "believe in" is that you never have to improve your sales skills. You get to brush aside every failure to sell something simply by saying, "I didn't really believe in that." Or you get to take a pass on a great sales opportunity that requires you to learn a new industry, sell to higher level executives, manage longer sales cycles, and close bigger deals. Simply by saying, "I don't believe in that product or service," you get to avoid all that intimidating professional and financial growth.

The real problem with this way of thinking is that it is solely focused on you. We know that the most successful companies and sales superstars have a customer-focused way of looking at the world. When deciding what to sell, wouldn't you rather figure out what others like and believe in?

Here are 3 factors to look for when choosing sales opportunities to help you avoid the easy out of not believing in something.

1. Is the product or service ethical? I'll leave you to decide what is ethical but if it doesn't conflict with your deepest held values, you can't write it off.

2. Will customers want the product or service? Will they find value in it? If yes, you can't write it off.

3. Is the market for this product or service growing? If yes, you can't write it off. This last point is all about finding the right platform for your sales career. Think of your sales career as a boat. You want to sail in a rising tide that lifts all boats. You wouldn't want to be sailing the newspaper print advertising waters right now.

Two out of these three factors have nothing to do with you. The best and most successful sales professionals are extremely good at optimizing points 2 and 3. That's because they're focused on others and not themselves.

Of course we do better when we do something we believe in. Just be sure you have faith in your ability to grow.

Comments

[Frank Seto]

Another way to approach this is to firstly identify that you share something in common with the client, and mention this at the beginning. Allan's right about optimizing "want" and "growth," and you can illustrate how other similar people want what you're selling more and more.

Next, as Joe describes, tell the client about the benefit associated with each feature, using the same kind of words that the client uses. Have the client do a hands-on trial of the product or service.

Finally, itemize the fees and summarize the benefits that the client will receive, reiterate that other people have a growing need for your product or service, and ask to go ahead with the next ($) step.

Frank Seto in Calgary, AB
http://ifranks.blogspot.com
@ifranksBLOGSPOT

[Carrie Requist]

To me, the most telling thing about "I can only sell what I like" is that it also says, "I can only sell to people like me" because I like what I like for my reasons and those may not be the same reason (translate to feature/pain/benefit) that others in the target market care about. So not only is the sales person limited to what companies s/he can work for, but the company with this sales person limits their target market to only people who are like this salesperson.
Sure, it is easier to work on a product that you use, no matter what part of the company you are in (engineering, sales, marketing, etc) but the key to a successful product is that is solves real pains for a big enough target market (big enough varies) and that you can get that target market to see that your product solves it pains. Sometimes also being a user actually clouds the ability to focus on the target market's pain because it is much easier to take care of the company-user wants.

[Al]

Wow this is a completely fresh perspective on sales!

[Joseph Joel Sherman]

"The real problem with this way of thinking is that it is solely focused on you." - Great point and criteria.

[Allan]

@Rafael,

Interesting question. I don't think it is ethical to sell a religion you don't believe in, but that's just my opinion.

Politics on the other hand is a great contest - I think anything goes in politics. That's why I try to stay out of it for the most part.

[Rafael Amaral]

I agree with you, Allan.
Do you think it applies to political and religious products or services?

[Johannes]

There might be other viewpoints. We successfully run a webshop totally based on the concept of "I (can) only sell what I like"!

We don´t believe that this is focusing on "me" but rather focuses on the client. The idea is, that the clients are tired of a zillion choices for each and every products they search. They trust that we made a pre-choice for them, our work/service is to dig for our customers.

What is important in this game? Know your customer!

[Joe Young]

As a teacher who has worked retail at The Apple Store during the summer months, I have to say that learning to sell something based on what others need is definitely a skill! Yes, "I can only sell what I like" is definitely an easy way to stay safe, never truly admit failure, and is a sure way not to grow. However, fully understanding the product or service for yourself, explaining it to the customer and how and why it will benefit him/her, and making that personal connection with the customer and the product or service are keys to growth.