What is Selling? You’ve probably seen many definitions over the years as I have. Heck, I’ve even defined it myself before.
And though I’ve been involved in selling activities, training, interviewing, and coaching for two decades I finally had the ‘aha’ moment or me that really describes what selling is.
Selling is…
Conversations that influence someone to do or decide.
That’s the most succinct definition I can come up with.
Of course there are actions within the conversation that lead to that decision or action. But the WHAT of selling is influencing someone to do something – take an action – or decide something – to buy or refer, for example.
That’s our job – to guide prospective buyers through a conversation – or series of conversations – that qualifies them, engages them, identifies their problems, opportunities wants, and needs, works through objections, and then aids them to DO or DECIDE something.
We all sell – even if we are in nontraditional sales positions such as engineering consultants, architects, or teachers who need to influence students to learn something.
Sales managers, think about your real sales job – is it with the paying/buying customer? Or is it to influence each seller to DO – to take action on the things that will bring in more sales.
Just yesterday a sales manager yesterday was asking for advice on getting commitment from hr team. I explained that approaching the sellers with a focus on Them and getting them to buy in and commit was just like sales. She said she never thought of her job as a manager as selling. and then exclaimed, “Well, if that’s what I need to do – I can do that!”
Think about it, is selling nothing more than conversations that influence someone to do or decide?
