By owning the product you’re selling, you’re demonstrating your certainty to others by your actions, and actions do speak louder than words. That’s the difference between a “salesperson” and someone who’s completely sold. It’s unbelievable to me how many people sell products that they don’t own themselves! Every product I’ve ever sold, I first bought myself and was proud to tell people that I owned it.
Obviously, you can’t buy every single product that you sell, but you’ve got to be willing to buy it.
You have to be so sold that you use your product, consume your product, and would sell the product to your loved ones. Otherwise you’re just a mercenary selling whatever for the highest fee.
ICE TO AN ESKIMO?
I consider myself to be a great salesperson, but that doesn’t mean I could sell any product. To the degree that you’re in disagreement with some product or idea, you won’t be able to sell it.
For example, I couldn’t sell ice to an Eskimo, as the saying goes. Why? Because it would be unethical for me to sell ice to an Eskimo since I just don’t see the need. I couldn’t and wouldn’t sell psychiatric drugs of any kind, no matter how much money you paid me. I could never convince myself that drugging people could possibly solve their problems or make their lives better. I can sell only that which I’m completely sold on.
A finance and insurance salesman at a car dealership was having difficulty selling his products, and he came to me for advice on improving his sales. I began by asking him when he had last bought a new car. He said that he’d recently purchased one, and he went on to tell me how much he loved it. Because he was sold on that car enough to buy it himself, his conviction for the product shined through when he talked about it. He was speaking from the heart. I went on to ask him which of the finance and insurance products he’d purchased with his new car (credit life, accident, health insurance, and warranty). With a chuckle, he admitted that he hadn’t bought any of those products because he didn’t want to spend the extra money on them. The truth was, he didn’t buy them because he wasn’t sold on the very products he was selling. Because he wasn’t sold, he wasn’t able to get others to buy the products from him. You might think, “No, he was just saving money!” Look, if you are completely sold, you won’t concern yourself with the money. You’ll buy the product! There is no exception to this rule ever!
If you’re having a similar problem, it’s an easy one to resolve and doesn’t even require that you learn anything about selling. All you have to do is buy the products you sell and then watch your sales go up. People are inclined to do what others have already done. People will follow you to your chiropractor, consult your doctor, hire your maid, or go to the movie you recommended—all because of what you did, not what you said. To the degree that you’re sold, you will take action, and to the degree that you take action, you will be successful in selling others!
I assure you that the finance guy I mentioned earlier would be more successful if he were able to demonstrate through action that he’d already made the same investments himself. He would have been able to look at his customers with full conviction and show them that he’d done what he was asking them to do; that he’d put his money where his mouth was because he was sold himself. By the way, he took my advice and his income quadrupled.
THE VITAL POINT
The vital point of having salespeople who are sold is missed by 90 percent of all management. Go to an Apple store and ask the salespeople how much they like their products. Those people are so totally sold that you’d think it’s a religious movement. The Apple people aren’t using PCs at home; they’re sold on Apple and you feel it when they present their products.
I went to a very high-end steak restaurant and I asked the waitress which steak was her personal favorite. She told me that she was a vegetarian! Hello? Is anyone home in management? What is this person doing in a steakhouse?
I would never hire a salesperson if he wasn’t willing to buy and use the product himself. I also wouldn’t hire a salesperson who wouldn’t buy the product because he doesn’t have the money. If he truly doesn’t have the resources, let’s get him a credit card or a payment plan and sell him the product so he can tell others how he loved it so much that he went into debt to buy it!
Additionally, I wouldn’t hire a salesperson who wouldn’t spend money. If a person won’t spend money or tends to be really cheap in how he spends his money, he’ll always have trouble getting other people to spend their money. I assure you that the less hung-up you are on money, the easier money will come to you. I know of salespeople who are so tight that they still have their first commission. While they brag about this frugality, I am convinced they would have reached much higher income levels had they not been so tight regarding their own money, because more people would have given them more money.