The Art of Selling
Early in my selling career, I thought that you have to do 100% of the talking until you get the customer to buy your product. I also thought that a good salesperson is a smartly dressed, glib-talking salesman with a briefcase full of elixir selling to gullible customers. I began my selling career with that idea in mind and I used it in my selling approach. But I found it too frustrating and stressful. Most of the customers I sold to, were either not interested, not convinced, or simply not listening because I'm doing most of the talking. Some would even engage me in a heated argument when I've said too much. In the end, I won the argument but I lost the sale. I only made a sale in a few instances where the customers actually needed the product and didn't involve too much selling. My selling style suddenly changed (which was talking too much), when I attended a sales training back in the '80s. It was called the "Professional Selling Skills " training...