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When You Sell as a Service, You’ll Be Unhappy in a Hard Sell Company
Have you ever felt out of place? I have. I find it happens most often when I seem to share nothing in common with the group where I am. Despite having been in sales and marketing since 1979, I feel uncomfortable in a company or a conference where the sales style is hard sell. I have friends who excel at it. They like the game of jockeying for control. My orientation instead is a service one. I like affirming the client and working with him rather seizing control and dictating. It was really challenging working in a company where I was expected to take control of the client and to prescribe what he would do. One executive told me that I’m the doctor. It’s my job to tell clients what to do.
Had to Find a Way to Satisfy My Boss While Acting Consistent with My Values
I spent 40 months dreading talking to my office because I had to find a way to take their orders and attempt to carry them out using my style of working in partnership with the client. I believe that lasting change comes from buy-in, which comes from agreeing with the objective and contributing to the solution. That’s hard to do when you are ordering instead of proposing a course of action and discussing.
Judith and Jim Seek to Make a Space for Soft Sell Sales and Marketing People
This week I met over a Skype connection a couple who agreed with my viewpoint on working with clients. Judith & Jim are forming a community of people who want a kinder, more caring way of doing business. In contrast to the aggressive, pushy sales, they call it soft sell marketing. I train clients and their sales reps to help customers buy. We both believe in sales and marketing as spiritual service. That includes acting with respect for the prospect. It seems to me that the key difference between hard sell and soft sell sales and marketing comes down to attitude: power versus love.
Opportunity to Join Community of Soft Sell Marketers
Talking with Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski about sales and marketing was one of the most exciting moments in my business life. I found a home: people who understand me, people who care about their customers and clients like I do, people who respect their prospects’ right to make their own decisions free of control, pressure, or manipulation. I’m delighted to say that I joined their Soft Sell Marketers Association and became an affiliate right away. So, if you’ve felt like me, that you were a stranger in a strange land when surrounded by manipulative, in-your-face sales and marketing people, I invite you join me and the others in this new soft sell marketing community. Check them out at http://tinyurl.com/ab7cbn. And let me know what you think about a community of people wanting to make a world where soft sell marketing becomes the norm.
How to Ask a Closing Question
Gratitude Sets the Right Attitude
Heart Centered Selling’s not for Wimps
Have You Heard the MLM Lies?
Sales Motivation – Remember, There’s more to Life than Money
Trusting a Salesperson Is Tough; Liking Is Easy
If No One Cares, It’s Not a Unique Selling Proposition
If Sales Calls to You Are Win-Lose Battles, Read No Further
