People are so weak-kneed and soft these days that it is frowned upon to mention Work, Struggle, Effort, Concentration, Doing Your Best.
But I disagree. I say that inside, people are great and that agitation is motivation – that being abrasive revitalizes – that “knowing the truth” builds the adrenaline – backbone provides intestinal fortitude – so anyone can become a success in this business of selling.
Many times we might be reluctant to dim the enthusiasm of someone starting out in the world of selling, but if we are honest, we must ask ourselves the question: “Is it fair to simplify the job? To paint a glowing picture of compensation, and neglect to say that salesmanship is the greatest ego-smashing profession in the world?
A survey taken to determine the things salesmen enjoy about selling shows that what many of them like least about their work is calling on prospects. This fear is motivated by false pride. We are afraid our prospects will strike back where it hurts us the most – that’s our desire to be appreciated. That is the primary reason for call reluctance.
Salesmen are just like those men in the army. They travel on their stomachs, and that means GUTS!
I hope someday that somebody convinces the Trainers and the Educators, the Statisticians, and the Ivory Tower Characters that the only thing that builds real salesmen is “SELLING EXPERIENCE.”
Let’s not tell the salesman that prospective customers are sitting around waiting for him. The customer can get along beautifully without him. He’s been doing it pretty successfully for years.
Let’s tell the salesman that the man he is going to call on is already busy – that he already has his day scheduled with forty other attractions vying for the few h ours he has available.
Let’s tell him that he has to know more than a Presentation. He has to know how to be a good listener. He has to know how to make questions sound like statements that will get the other man talking. Men can learn something about the prospect’s business and h is attitude – his way of thinking, so he will know how to build up the benefits to fit.
Let’s tell him that to become a real salesman he has to grow – be different – new – unusual – creative – stimulating and exciting and believable.
Let’s tell him that he has to do all this with on-the-spot inspiration, with intensity and showmanship, without being an entertainer.
Let’s tell him that he has to be able to knock on doors and be turned away time after time, and somehow maintain the courage and enthusiasm to keep going.
Let’s tell him that he has to take “NO” once, ten times, and a thousand times, and never let it show, and never let it upset him.
Let’s tell him that he has to accept rebuffs, turndowns, some polite and some impolite – not for the first month, or the first year, but all of his life if he is going to be a Master Salesman.
Let’s tell him that after he sets up a sale or what looks like a series of sales, anywhere from one to ten other people can come along and choke it off, kill it, upset it, or wreck it before he actually gets a signed order and his commission check.
Tell him that he has to handle all of this mentally without losing his courage and physically without getting ulcers.
Your results and your income are going to rise above the level of mediocrity, and you are going to be around next year and the year after only if you have “gutty stick-to-itiveness.” If you have determined that you are going to be a Master Salesman – a Professional Motivator and a Builder of Men – a Waker of Sleeping Giants, ask yourself this question: “Do I have the GUTS for it?”
