I bet if I asked if you work in sales or have ever worked in sales, I would see a reasonable show of hands. Some of us likely sold lemonade as kids, or maybe had a paper route.
As a kid I did those things, but my first real job as a teenager was selling shoes at a local Thom McAn store my neighbor owned.
That job was an eye-opener, trying to make a sale to earn a small commission while being pleasing to, and trying to please, a customer. It was brutal. The number of rejections I endured before finding the right fit and style made me appreciate my job in the steel mill a few years later.
But, if I asked you if you’re currently in sales, the number of hands would drop dramatically — to maybe the 12 to 15 percent range, representing salespeople as a percentage of the workforce. In reality, the number of hands raised should likely be much higher. After all, aren’t we all in sales?
As a manager and later as a CFO and CEO, I used sales skills every day. I can recall as plant controller having to sell the need for a solid budget to a shop foreman. Tough dude. He didn’t get it at all. “Just give me the orders and I will manufacture them” was his terse response.
Budgeting, of course, was necessary to manage cash needs and make sure the foreman had the tools and personnel to deliver results. After a few examples, he got it. Then others followed, and my sales job became much easier.
Fast forward to today, when I am in semi-retirement, managing my own management consulting business and working with startups to get them going and get their products to market. Why do I need sales skills?
When talking with potential clients, I need to know the value of my skills, services and connections and how those will benefit my potential new client. I need to understand their business and be able to position myself to help them.
When I am raising capital for one of my companies, which I do a lot, I need to be the ultimate sales guy. I need to know the details of the company needing the capital, and I need to know what buttons to push for potential investors.
In short, I need to know my product and I need to know my customers. Combine this with tenacity and the ability to hear “no” multiple times, yet not give up, and you have the basic ingredients of a good salesperson.
So, go ahead and Google “what makes a good salesperson” and see the lists of skills and attributes that come up. All the helpful hints. It will make your head spin. Read through them to understand how to be more effective.
But at the end of the day, if you can’t fit whatever it is that you’re selling into your customer’s business, then the customer might just be better off without it.
John W. Manzetti is the managing director of Manzetti Group LLC. John is an award-winning, visionary financial and business leader, technology entrepreneur, startup adviser, investor and expert on the topics of economic development, venture capital formation and the commercialization of innovation. He wrote a book in 2018, “Small Bites of the Elephant,” where he uses straight talk and anecdotes to help small business owners and entrepreneurs address complex business issues.
