Happy New Year! I hope you have all had a bit of a rest and recharge over the festive season. A bit of a short post this week as I get back into the swing of things.
Having the attributes of a Growth Driven Business Developer is one thing, but you must also have a belief in the product or service you are representing. There are salespeople who are over-confident enough to believe they can sell anything regardless of their feelings for it. Those of us who have experience, and a conscience, know you cannot put your best into selling anything unless you do believe in it. Donald Miller sums this up best in his 2021 book Business Made Simple:
“Do you believe in the product you sell? Do you believe you can solve a customer’s problem and change their life? If you don’t, quit. I’m serious. Just walk away from the company and find a mission you believe in.”
Talking to a prospective customer about a product you have no enthusiasm for is not easy to disguise. The lack of passion can be seen as inauthentic, ultimately signalling to the customer the need to look elsewhere.
Having worked in the sales function of a company where I didn’t believe in the product, I can tell you it can be extremely demoralising. It takes an extraordinary level of energy to find the enthusiasm needed to be successful. I took Donald’s advice and left. I took some time to think about what I enjoyed about work and the types of services I was enthusiastic about. As it turned out this was easy for me to define. The environmental sector was where I had knowledge, experience and could make a real impact with the work we were doing. When my energy was harnessed and focused on products and a mission that I could really get behind, customer discussions became a hundred times easier.
You must love, or at least believe in what you are selling.
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For me it was moving back to the Environmental Sector where I really got my energy and enthusiasm back. Have a think about what sort of industries or products float your boat and get you excited to tell people about. Are you representing these? If not, perhaps it’s time to think about how you might get involved with something that spikes your enthusiasm?
To learn more about Donald Millers excellent book visit here.
For our previous post on how to avoid the Technobabble Trap visit here.