A Word About Selling
After presenting my program – IMAGINE THAT! to a sales team from a major pharmaceutical company, my wife and I were asked to join them for dinner. After some wonderful dialogue about the program, my wife asked the eight people in attendance question. I have to preface this by saying that my wife is a movie critic and knows absolutely nothing about the art of selling. She is also a very curious person who is always on the lookout to learn something new. The question posed to each member at the table: “What do you think is most important element about selling?”
There was a beat where I could witness each person looking inwards to find his or her best answer. The answers to my wife’s questions were: transparency, uncovering the problem, empathy, establishing rapport and identifying the difference between similar products. Interestingly enough, no one said “closing the sale” or “persistence” or “cold calling.”
The answers, insightfully given, made me think that a great sales training course might be based on simply asking each of the top sales people in a company that same question, choosing 7-10 of the best ideas and – creating the program.
James Mapes is the founder of Quantum Leap Thinking™, creator of The Transformational Coach™, expert on the psychology of “applied imagination,” best-selling author, highly acclaimed business speaker, consultant, seminar leader and personal excellence coach.