Sales Myths Busted!

There are lots of misconceptions, half-truths, white lies and exaggerations about selling. Most if not all of them are false.

Buyers are liars. Do buyers mislead salespeople? Many-a-times. This usually occurs when the sales person has failed to earn that person's trust. Gaining someone's trust does not mean not pushing them into making a buying decision. It means focusing the sales person’s attention on customer’s situation rather than trying to close the sale.

Anyone can be persuaded to buy. This may be true of impulse purchases but in today's business world, buyers are very smart. The real key is to determine whether the person or company the sales person is speaking has a genuine need for the product or service. If they do not, then the best strategy is to move on to someone who does..

Price is the primary reason people make a buying decision. Price is important in the sales process but it is not usually the primary reason, unless, of course, if the sales person fails to establish the value of his products or services. If he does not clearly show how his solution will help the customer, price will become the default decision-making criteria.

It is critical to close the sale as soon as possible. Yes, it's important to move people towards a buying decision and it is important to gain commitments along the way. But, it is also important to recognize that not every sales decision will be made quickly. Decisions can be delayed for a number of reasons, and in certain situations, trying to rush the customer to a commitment will cost the sale.

Close the deal at any price. Many sales people match the prices of the competitors in order to prevent people from going to their competition. However, this seldom creates loyalty and only conditions that customer to continue asking for a better price. If the sales person is not making the desired gross profit on a particular sale, then he needs to consider whether it makes good business to accept it.

Do whatever it takes to get the sale. Manipulative, aggressive, high-pressure sales tactics work. But, they don't create loyal customers and clients. The sales person may win the sale, but in the long run, the customer is lost.

A salesperson can sell something. People buy to satisfy needs and wants. A salesperson may help a customer to identify their needs and wants but customers only buy when they believe the product or service they are offered will satisfy them. Selling is not about seducing or coercing the client into buying something for which they have no use or desire.

Successful salespeople use a lot of tricks and gimmicks. Tricks and gimmicks are the tools of the old style salesperson. Today's buyers are too sophisticated to put up with these tactics. Tricks and gimmicks may still be used by some salespeople in some industries but these techniques are not the skills used by today's sales professional.

Successful salespeople are aggressive. The best salespeople are not aggressive. They are self-motivated and enthusiastic. The irritating pushiness that the public perceives as part of buying is the trademark of the un-trained, unprofessional salesperson. Top sales people in any field are sincere, knowledgeable, considerate, helpful and empathetic.

Great salespeople are born, not made. Great salespeople are not born, they are trained. Desire, training, practice and experience will enable anyone to reach a successful level of sales performance.

Selling is something you do to people. Selling is something you do with people, not something you do to them. A sales presentation is conversational in style. It should be comfortable, not confronting. The client needs information and looks to the salesperson for guidance and advice. The salesperson is helpful and supportive as the client considers the presentation and makes a decision.

Selling a professional service requires a compromise in ethics. The salesperson is motivated only by a desire to satisfy their customer's needs and wants. Professionals always place their client's best interests ahead of their own. Trust is essential to a successful sales relationship and a professional never compromises his/her integrity to achieve success.

The public does not trust or like salespeople. People do not like or trust poorly trained poorly informed, ineffective salespeople. They often share stories about unethical and pushy sales service, but also praise the experience of dealing with the best sales people. Today's consumer wants sales service they can trust and rely on, and they will remain loyal to salespeople who provide it.

To be effective in sales you must adopt a new personality. Not true. The more open the sales person is with the client, the more effective he will be. The more he shares his values, feelings and experiences with his clients the more comfortable they become.

Marketing is replacing selling. Selling is part of the marketing process. There is also a mistaken belief that marketing can replace selling and eliminate the need for direct, one-to-one customer contact. This may be true for some products or services where the salesperson acts simply as an order taker. For most products and services, however, selling is a necessary and valuable part of the marketing strategy.

All successful salespeople are hard closers. Today's top salespeople seldom spend much time on closing. Instead they focus on finding customer needs, demonstrating benefits and asking for customer feedback. The professional salesperson, after making sure his client has all the information needed to make a decision, simply asks if they would like to order.

Product knowledge is what separates the mediocre salesperson from the outstanding salesperson. Product knowledge is extremely important in professional selling. But product knowledge is isolated information, which has really no value to anyone. Facts, data, and statistics about products or services do not create sales.

However, what really is the key to most sales is the proper understanding of the problems of a prospect or a specific business. To understand a business problem is to properly analyze and then to provide solutions to the customer is the essence of professional sales. Product knowledge is only a small part of this process.

A career in sales is usually near the bottom in terms of status and income. Selling is the highest single paid career in the world. Furthermore, many CEO's and other executives started in sales, which has always been one of the fastest waysto upper management.

Women are only effective in certain types of sales positions. More and more companies are asking to interview women candidates as well as men in such fields as industrial equipment, chemicals, construction, etc. Success in sales has nothing to do with gender but everything to do with that person's ability to reach well defined goals within a certain time frame.

The most effective salespeople are more extroverted than introverted. Actually, high performance salespeople are quite analytical and top salespeople lean more to the introverted side than the extroverted side. For example, in the strategic consultative sales process, a winning salesperson has to pick apart a complex problem to come up with a workable solution The art of selling is the art of problem solving.