I'm Not A Salesperson! Good, Me Neither!

Have you ever been offered an opportunity of a lifetime where you know you would have to be a salesperson? "I'm sorry, but I have to turn down your opportunity because I'm not a salesperson, so this isn't for me?"

Why do we answer questions like this? Is it because when we think of the word salesperson a few jobs come to mind like:

• Used car salesman
• Door-to-door salesman

Not that there is anything wrong with these but, being a salesperson today is less about selling and more about building relationships. Even these type of positions listed above have greatly changed from the old traditional sense of selling.

Did you know when you refer a product to a person, you are essentially acting as a salesperson for that manufacturer? Let's just think about this for a moment. You do not like to consider yourself a salesperson, but in reality you are referring products all the time to friends and family. Because you have an on-going relationship with this person(s), you feel extremely comfortable with referring anything to them. Either it is a movie you saw, a restaurant you ate out at, a book you read, or a clothing line you like. We are all salespeople, especially when it's something that we feel passion about. When we are passion about something, we find ourselves sharing the information with friends and family.

Passion is important, but it's not the only thing that is required to become a good salesperson. Use the three steps below to get you started.

1. You must learn, and understand the product. For example, you will need to know what makes the product stand-out against others?
   
2. Belief in your product. Now that you know you product, you have to believe people need your product.
   
3. Learn how to build rapport. Use the following acronym F.O.R.M.

• F - Friends and Family (Do they have any family, kids, dogs, etc?)
  
• O - Occupation (What do they do for their career?)
  
• R - Recreation (What do they like to do for fun?)
• M - Money (What are they willing to spend?)
  

These three steps listed above should be enough to get you started. If you would like to learn more about being a salesperson, I recommend the following book. - Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar.

I don't consider myself a salesperson, but I am passionate about many products. So, I guess I am salesperson. Yes, I am a salesperson!

Jerome Ratliff
Independent Associate
My Business