take the sales out of selling

It came to me at a peculiar time. I am a sales trainer and I was training sales people. In a moment of uninspired accidental brilliance (that's an enormous exaggeration) I said something that made all the sense in world, but was completely contradictory in nature.
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"My ultimate goal for you," I said to a roomful of seasoned professional sales people "is to completely remove the concept of 'selling' from who you are and what you do." But wait a minute...I'm a sales trainer...a SALES trainer...and these are sales people...SALES people...and ALL my clients are SALES people. Was I secretly hoping to put myself out of business? Hardly.
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The point is this. The sales process in American busiess has become painfully stale. It's wrought with manipulation, misplaced intentions, ego, self indulgence and in some instance, complete fakeness. I certainly don't mean to offend any professional sales person, but it's likely time you took a strong, deep OBJECTIVE look at what you do in your role as a professional sales person.
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Here's what I suggest you do about it:

1. �Change Your Intent:� Completely shift your focus in all sales situation from "getting the deal" to helping the prospective client. Don't give this lip service. Change what/how you think about the sales process and your role in it. Quit trying to persuade, convince, push, pull and coerce your prospective clients....just focus on making their life better off and let the results just happen.
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2. �Don't Think of Yourself as a Salesperson...think of yourself as a BUSINESS PERSON:� Lots of sales people will tell you, "I run my territory like it's my own business." But do they really? Entrepreneurs tend to think about things very OBJECTIVELY and make decisions using more analysis than emotion. Try to put the same concept into affect for yourself. Be an objective business analyst and you'll completely change how you sound and appear to prospective clients.
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3. �Be Yourself:� Stop being fake. Stop pretending to be interested in things that you're not. Just be real. Be yourself. You are likely a very competent, likeable, intelligent person who has a lot of knowledge that others will buy. Just let your ego down and let go of the desire to please them or kiss their ass and just be you.

There you have it.

Original :: take the sales out of selling