Mastering the art of sales

What makes a great salesperson? Why do "some" salespeople lie to their clients? Does creativity matters while someone is in the salesman profession? These questions are often being asked. Like most jobs, there is a certain set of criteria that make one person more successful in one profession than another. The job of a salesman is no different.
Just think of a barefooted customer entering a footwear store. He never thought of purchasing any shoes. He was a farmer from a remote area of Bangladesh. The air-conditioned store gave the tired man some sort of relief. And when he left the store, he was smiling and most importantly he was no more barefooted. We can view it from two perspectives. Firstly, a sale has been made. Secondly, the customer smiles and has a very good impression of the footwear company. But one point is not noticed here. Yes, we are forgetting the contribution of the salesman, who renders the customer service. He does a great job in this happy-ending drama.
People who can change their approach as the situation demands to make another person more comfortable or to best accomplish the task at hand are much more likely to be successful in influencing the customers. If, on the other hand, you enter a store and the salesperson greets you calmly, shakes your hand, asks you how he can help, then listens carefully while you tell him, how will that work? This ability to modify your approach depending on what the other person prefers is a key aspect of emotional intelligence. Expert salespeople build a business, not just try to make sales. When someone thinks beyond the sale, he or she can draw other people's attention much more easily. Great salespeople always ask their clients why they want something done. By listening more than talking, one can better understand what their clients are looking for.
Now the question is whether companies around the world value this art or not. Some companies view it as a regular practice. They think salespeople are hired for this. On the other hand, there are some companies that value this creativity. A question may arise as to whether all kinds of sales belong to the same genre or not. When companies calculate the sales at the end of the day, they never think of whether it has taken place through the retail channel, wholesale channel or volume sales. Money matters and organisations are quite aware of it. How many salespeople are being promoted for generation of better sales?  
There are different kinds of sales professionals. Some are great tacticians. Some are best at complex selling. Many are great at selling the intangible. The beauty of sales is we find our own style of doing it in the course of time. One kind of salesperson is no less valuable than another. Like an artist, becoming an accomplished sales professional takes time and requires experience. It is no different from any other profession. It requires skill and experience to make a complex sale happen. It is an amazing talent to understand how to make it happen. A professional salesperson practises an art that requires skill, talent and a bit of luck as well. Your canvas is your sales opportunity. Your paint is the solution. A lot of people say the sales skill is mainly learned on the job. And it is true there is a finesse about it that simply cannot be taught in the classroom.  And yet there are thousands of companies that are concerned about training sales employees in their method. Like an artist who sees the completed statue in a block of marble, a sales professional sees the completed "win/win" deal. It goes beyond an "I-want-you-to-buy-from-me" sentiment; it is a "this-will-add-value-to-your-business" vision.  
What makes a salesman get out of bed and come to work each morning? Is it the chance to achieve the company's goals? Is it the opportunity to make the company dreams come true? Not likely. This scribe can find anyone who meets this description. He must be considered a real player in the game. This scribe can bet that all your salespeople - and all the salespeople you'll ever hire - show up at their desks every morning for two reasons: to stave off starvation (of the nutritional and/or emotional kind) and to make their dreams come true. The first is a short term motivator and the second is a long term factor. Both are keys to unlocking a sales team's potential to improve performance.
Once the job of a salesman was to convince his client to buy the product he was selling. The choice was simple: Buy this thing now or keep the money to be spent for something else. Today everything is different. Even if you sell the most complicated product imaginable, information about it, including your customers' reviews of it, is available on the Internet. It is quite possible that your client not only knows more about your competition but also more about your company than you do. And today there's no expiration date on the opportunity to buy. Someone is always ready to take an order on the Internet.
A successful sale is nothing but the combination of different elements like motivation, leadership and communication and, most importantly, the dedication of being a salesperson. Starting each day with the phrase "You can get everything you want in life by helping others get what they want" is enough for someone to become a successful salesperson. One thing has to be kept in mind that it is important to communicate with the salespeople in their own language. Creativity lies here. If you are a business owner or salesperson and you still believe that selling is a number game, then you are saying that you lack the skills to control the outcome. It is only when you focus on selling to big buyers, you will fund the sales volume that big. That is not a game. That is what is called a great sales strategy. The "number game" myth reduces the chance of success. It makes selling more complicated and harder than necessary. Selling is not a number game, it is a performance game. The "number game" myth is used by those who believe in luck and chance. Sales are generated by applying skills and technique. Salespeople need to focus on their unique value and target clients that have the greatest impact on their business. When you change your approach, you change your results also. People want to do business with someone who cares about them and has their best interests in mind.
"Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust." Keeping it in mind will generate sales automatically. When customers complain, business owners and managers need to get excited about it. The complaining customer provides a good opportunity for more business. So the motto should be: "Stop selling. Start helping". Successful salespeople believe it, because they think people do not buy only on the logical ground, they buy on the emotional ground also.
The writer is a sales professional and online activist.
 ayanrgupta@gmail.com