Achieve Career Progressions Through Sales Skills

People have a negative opinion of sales people but let’s take some time to look at who exactly a sales person is, for me a sales person is someone who goes through the sales process, so they generate interest, they qualify there audience to ensure that the solution is for them and they gain commitment to the solution from the audience. Is it only sales people that go through this process or are these skills used day to day in all environments to gain commitment, do you go through this process when trying to convince a friend to accompany you to the cinema for example?

It is not unusual for us all to find ourselves in a situation where we are being sold to, if we forget that sales is all about a physical product and consider that what we can be asked to buy into could be anything from an idea to a way of life it is apparent that we are a potential customer daily and are the target of a sales pitch.

A hairdresser will regularly offer you a product to help get the best out of your new style, this will be pitched as a recommendation but it is not unusual for a hairdresser to receive commission for selling retail products.

A bank clerk will discuss account upgrades and finance packages with you, this will be pitched as an opportunity to get the best out of your money but it is not unusual for a bank clerk to be targeted and receive commission on selling finance products.
A politician will talk at length about new policies, this will be pitched as a way to a better life for you and your fellow nationals but they want you to buy into their party and make that vote.

A lawyer sells a scenario to an audience of jurors, the lawyer’s sole aim and objective is for the jurors to buy his story or interpretation of events.
A manager ensures a team’s timely completion of work, this will be achieved by selling the benefits of the work’s completion.

Who’s buying? We as individuals will buy into something every day as a result of the influence and sales skills of another. Today I was offered the solution to a problem, it was pitched to me as something that would answer many questions and something that would take a problem away, whether this is true or not is yet to be proved but I bought into it. That is a good job done.
Without knowing it there are many professions which require the skills of a sales person, it may be difficult to accept but how often have you found yourself in a situation even with friends and family when you are keen to participate in something that you have had to gain agreement on, how do you gain agreement? It’s Simple you selling to them.

But how does this translate to every career? Anyone who is an employee will find them offering an solution to a colleague, manager or client at some stage. This may be a great solution but your success will depend very much on your delivery, you need to sell this solution to the recipient to ensure that it is agreed and implemented, you need to exercise your sales skills to gain buy in to the solution.

Consider how often you go through this process on a daily basis without even considering it selling, consider how many times you have lost that sale and consider the feeling of making a sale on every attempt!