Many years ago the mantra was that selling is a noble profession and should never be derided. “You’re doing important work,” the sales manager would proclaim. After all, without salespeople, how would the economy work?
And so, having mentally trod the hot coals to prove our worth, we trudged forth, sales aids in hand, to take our rightful place alongside brain surgeons, bomb defusers, and firefighters in our noble calling.

A little perspective, please

As Billy Joel laments in “Shades of Grey,” “I’m just not that sure any more.” I watch people selling all kinds of crap on television, from getting rich in real estate, to “sure fire” investment programs (for a mere $495 if you order now), to gizmos that apparently cook a turkey and begin chewing it for you.
I’ve seen vapid clerks in retail stores who can’t tell you the benefits of what they, themselves, are supposed to be selling. I’ve talked to people working on behalf of airlines and credit card companies who are sitting in Kuala Lumpur and Manila, without a hint of what my real issues are or what they can do for me.
And we’ve all talked to people who are outright jerks. (A guy at Sprint tried to sell me a $1500 teleconference line for a one-time use. I asked how he expected to sell me that when I could get it for $100—or even free—online. “Oh,” he said, laughing, “you know about that? I’m going after the people who don’t know any better!”)

Allowing the buyer to buy

I don’t generally think of selling as a noble profession any more. There are excellent salespeople and horrible ones, and that diversity applies to brain surgeons, firefighters, and bomb defusers, as well (though the latter are self-selected out).
Our job is to enable the buyer to buy. People have certain “wants” which they pursue, but they also have hidden and unacknowledged “needs” which we should help identify. (The difference between what the client wants, e.g., a training program, and what they need, e.g., a new sales structure, is what I call your “value distance.”)
Too many professionals walk into a buyer’s presence with the subliminal context of “taking something from the buyer.” They seem to feel that they have to justify themselves and validate their work so that they can ethically “take” the buyer’s money.

It’s all about value

My feeling is that we work with buyers to provide, to deliver, to convey, to transfer: value. We’re not taking, we’re giving. Our primal philosophy must be that we are doing the noble work of helping others to improve their condition through the provision of our experiences, knowledge, skills, and behaviors—in sum total, our value.
Hence, why wouldn’t we aggressively pursue this wonderful and outstanding goal? Not everyone realizes how much we can help them. We need to inform them, thus enabling them to buy. (If that means grabbing an ankle and not letting go, so be it.)
“Hawking” goods and sneaking through hidden services (Don’t you love all those manufacturers’ warranties, which provide a higher profit margin than the actual product?) is not noble work, nor is providing bribes (pharmaceutical companies romancing doctors), nor being supercilious (you’re not a “barrista” you’re serving me coffee, and when you tell me you don’t know what “iced tea” is, you’re just being a dolt).
Providing the unique value that you alone can convey in order to improve a client’s condition IS noble work. You might as well get good at it.

And into the future

Faced is a multiplicity of choices, people will often fall back on the tried and true, watching only six television stations although cable provides 900, listening to two radio channels, though satellite affords 300, keeping money in a low interest savings account even though there are equally safe but more rewarding investment alternatives.
Outstanding sales people help the consumer, customer, client, and buyer through the morass of alternatives in order to truly meet their personal and professional objectives. And, fortunately, those skills are needed more frequently and more continually than those of any heart surgeon.

© Alan Weiss 2008 All rights reserved.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D. probably has the strongest independent consulting brand in the country, and maybe beyond. He is the author of 27 books appearing in 8 languages. His newest is The Global Consultant (with Omar Kahn) coming out from Wiley in the fall. He runs the unique Million Dollar Consulting® College three times a year. He has won dozens of writing and consulting awards and is a member of the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame.® Contact him at http://www.summitconsulting.com, or his blog, http://www.contrarianconsulting.com.