Someone once said to me, “sex is really dirty... but only if it’s done right.” But selling should never be dirty – no lying, no cheating, no duping others in any way. Selling can and should be done with absolute integrity. Values based selling, not to be confused with ‘value selling’ (business case selling), is an essential foundation on which every successful career is built. Our integrity and the strong personal brand that ensues is our most precious asset in professional selling.
But great sex and great selling do have one thing in common. It’s all about giving yourself to the other person; meeting their needs before your own. Zig Ziglar once said: “You can have everything you want if you can help enough people get what they want”…now the sex metaphor is getting a little weird and I’m quoting Zig out of context; he was a monogamous committed Christian.
Never go negative and never throw mud at a competitor. Most importantly, avoid any form of caustic criticism on social media as it leaves a permanent digital imprint that irreparably damages your reputation. Although dirty or negative tactics should be avoided, cunning orchestration is encouraged with thoughtful planning and stealthy execution (no, we're not talking about sex again). All great enterprise sales people are plotters and schemers. Their modus operandi is one of asking insightful questions and listening, careful planning, strategy, validating intelligence and masterful execution. They know the maxim that you don’t learn anything while you're talking. They also don't care who gets the credit so long as they achieve the objective.
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Main Image Photo by Flickr: Robert Huffstutter