The art of selling through authenticity
You may have heard this line before–whether you like it or not, once you enter the workforce, you are going to have to be a salesperson. Yes, you are going to have to sell, whether it is real customers or pitching ideas to co-workers or convincing friends to go somewhere.
The words are enough to make anyone adverse to the word “sales” cringe, because we have all met bad salespeople and there are very few good ones–mall salespeople come to mind as does the lone consultant who has an honest service to offer but wants to work right away.
But the reality is sales isn’t what you might think, meaning the immediate goal isn’t to make a sale. Sales is actually made up of many goals, whether it is to make an initial contact, get information or ask for a referral.
I should add, too, that often thinking too short term about making a sale right away could eventually cause customers to buy once (just to get away from you) and then think twice about buying again.
So, if you think through the goals of sales much more clearly than to make a hard sell right on the spot, it can be better positioned as as a series of long, enjoyable conversations between to strangers getting to know each other.
It means creating an affiliation with someone looking to see if you are someone who can help the solve a problem.
When I think of sales this way, it reminds me of the goals of social media, the highway to fast connections. There are times when we can add someone as a friend and never speak to them again–that is the story of the hard sell. Then, there are other times when messaging, commenting, posting with someone regularly makes that person more memorable to you–you’ve reached a point with them where you are really connecting and the exchange is easy.
So the real lesson here is that you don’t sell by taking, and you don’t make friends by taking either. It’s making an offer that is appealing time and time again that will keep buyers engaged and coming back to you.
What are some of your favorite lessons about selling?





