For the love o’ sales
Author: Lorne Peasland

They do it for the love of it. That’s what every successful salesperson will tell you – they love it!

"It" isn't the thing they sell, the personal toiletries at a department store, a new rose at the garden centre, advertising on your favourite radio station, life insurance, or your membership in a not-for-profit organization. Yes, their product or service or combination of the two is important, but that’s not really the “it” to which salespeople refer when they say they “love it.”

The “it” they’re talking about is how they feel about their task - winning customers and keeping them longer, building quality relationships and maintaining them. That's the "it" they're talking about.

It's the feeling you get when you put together a challenging picture puzzle. Building the areas of commonality in the salesperson-to-customer and customer-to-salesperson relationship is like finding similar looking pieces of a puzzle from amidst all the other jumble of pieces and putting them together to provide part of a greater whole. Such is the quest of the salesperson, such is the "it" of his reward.

But it's a bit more than that. The picture of the completed puzzle may be on the cover of its box, but the picture of the completed salesperson is forever evolving in her mind. The very act of repeatedly putting together successful relationships and maintaining them is more dangerous than putting together a puzzle. It is also more fatiguing. We can walk away from the puzzle board, but we can't walk away from what makes us who we are. A salesperson's "it" is almost always turned on.

The primary motivator of most successful salespeople is not their pocketbook, although I have met a few who had to have the Rolex and were compelled to replace their entire wardrobe of shirts because the sleeves were too long and covered their new symbol of success. No, the primary motivator of the best salespeople is the opportunity to improve or better utilize his customer's resources.

The reward for a successful sale is three-sided. A win-win-win. The customer's reward is getting what he paid for, and more, in the form of a service relationship he can trust. The employer of the salesperson receives a reward, over and above what he earned for his product or service, in the form of a happy customer who is being managed by a competent professional which means long-term revenue. And the salesperson receives a reward, over and above her compensation for the deal, in the form of a self-produced and self-induced shot of energy.

Undeniably, money is one of the greatest motivators ever devised. Don't think by what I've said that I believe money isn't important. It is. If you were to ask a successful salesperson to rank money against job satisfaction, you’d hear a lot of hemming and hawing. Then, you’d get the sales pitch, either way.

Some people treat sales like sex. They see a desireable objective and do everything they can to win it. Their efforts are expended with one thing in mind – orgasm, or the splendid meeting of minds that celebrates when a purchase is a happy one. The sexual seller expects only one of two potential outcomes for his or her encounter with a potential customer: a simple “no thanks,” which only means “not now,” to the persistent suitor, and seldom ends the relationship but merely delays its gratification (often ending up in a one-night stand); or a whirlwind romance followed by a predictable and pleasant relationship of trust and co-dependency which will strengthen as time passes.

Some salespeople treat sales like a game of chess, with a set of strategic moves which are meant to make your customer – or adversary - follow a prescribed route of responses. They make a move – asking a question - anticipating the response, and preparing a list of subsequent questions based on the respondent’s answers. It's all a science. Through a series of prepared scripts, they try to place the potential customer in a situation where he or she can’t help but agree to buy. This method has its problems. Too often, I’ve talked with former customers of manipulative salespeople who were convinced to buy something only to later call the salesperson and cancel their purchase.

Good professional salespeople will first sell a commitment of personal attention, competence, knowledge and trustworthiness to their potential customer. Sometimes, that process will take several visits and conversations, with a referral or two perhaps, before the first “sale” is actually made. Whether it comes quickly or slowly, it comes. And that's why they love it.








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Lorne Peasland, is a former advertising agency owner and national media consultant, the founder and past-president of the Canadian Home & Micro Business Federation, and author of "Influencing Public Opinion - A Communications Primer For Political Candidates, Community Activists, and Special Interest Group Spokespeople" (ISBN 0-9697364-0-1). He publishes HomeBizNews, a weekly online journal for home-based and small-office entrepreneurs, and is a home-based marketing consultant, writer and speaker. He can be contacted through either of his web pages at http://www.accept.ca/homebiznews/lorne.html or http://www.accept.ca/homebiznews/pms2.html, via e-mail at lorne@pacificcoast.net., or by phone at 250-708-0250.

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