There’s something unique about what we do as sales people. We’re paid to be curious!!
Not many other jobs have “curiosity” as the central part of their job description. Perhaps research scientists, some market analyst/researcher, think tank people, and consultants; but other than that there aren’t a lot of jobs that pay for curiosity.
And the types of things we get paid to be curious about is pretty awesome.
We talk to people about their goals, dreams, and aspirations for their businesses and for themselves. We get the opportunity to talk to them about their successes and how to achieve more. Sometimes, it’s about where they haven’t been successful, or may have even failed–and they are looking for help.
We help them discover things about their businesses that they may have never recognized or dreamed possible.
We get the opportunity to look at our customers’ businesses, markets, competitors, customers and figure out, “How could they do better? How could they grow? What opportunities are they missing? Where can they improve? Where can they improve their ability to serve their customers? What can they do to achieve higher levels of performance?”
We get the opportunity to help them learn, and through that learn more ourselves.
Our curiosity isn’t idle curiosity–perhaps like children’s, but rather it is very focused. I like Brian Grazer’s concept in A Curious Mind, The Secret To A Bigger Life.
“For curiosity to be effective, curiosity has to be harnessed with at least two other key traits. First, the ability to pay attention to the answers to your questions–you actually have to absorb whatever it is you’re being curious about. The second is the willingness to act.”
We aren’t just curious to learn about anything.
We’re very focused. Since effective curiosity is about taking action, we’re most curious about the people and organizations that we can help and who want to take action, as well. So our curiosity is very purposeful.
There are few limitations to our ability to exercise our curiosity. In fact, our jobs encourage us to meet new people, whether within our accounts, or organizations that have never done business with us.
So we are being paid to constantly explore, learn, and help our customer grow.
There are so other jobs in which curiosity is a central part of what one does, every day.
What else could be more fun or rewarding?
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