know excited to share some “great news” with me. He was sure his “opportunity” to become a
member of his network marketing team was a perfect fit for me. Rather than ask
what my business interests are he made a lot of assumptions.
Within a very short period of time I knew his
opportunity was not a good fit for me or my market. I thanked him for his
offer, graciously declined and assumed that was the end of any conversation on
the topic.
I received another email a short while later from the
same man trying to convince me this was a great opportunity and I would be wise
to join in.
Once more I declined, again assuming this was the end
of our discussion.
A third message from this man put my patience to the
test. This time he came from the perspective that it was not so much about how
I would benefit from this opportunity, but rather about how much he would
benefit from my network.
Although a part of me wanted to completely ignore his
third message I responded with, “I’m not sure how to get across that I’m
not interested in what your are offering. It doesn’t fit in my business model
and I would appreciate no further conversation on this.”
He finally got it. “Finally!” I thought to
myself.
The fact is, some people are still selling based on old
school methods. I began my sales career nearly three decades ago. In the early
days I read virtually every book I could get my hands on about how to sell
persuasively. I listened to records and cassettes (yep, back then we had
records and cassettes), went to workshops and talked to others who were in
sales.
Something I read, had been taught and heard more than
once was, “If someone says no it simply means you haven’t asked the right
way for the sale.” Another common teaching was if the prospect said no
they obviously didn’t know what was good for them and the salespersons job was
to show them the error of their ways. Palllllleeeezzeeee!
Many a salesperson was taught all you had to do was ask
enough, push harder and eventually you would wear the prospect down. The fact
is, that’s the old way of selling. Rather than a happy customer you had irate
men and women wondering when you would leave and hoping never to see or hear
from you again.
The good news is there is a much better (and more
ethical way) of selling. Today, things are different. More and more men and
women sell based on a high level of integrity and consciousness. Actually, some
sales professionals have sold on a very conscious level for years.
Interestingly, they are likely the highest performers in an organization and their
industry.
