Preface: I first met Alex Shootman when he was running sales at Eloqua. We had talked on the phone a few times, but our first meeting was on the exhibit floor at Dreamforce. While his time was probably better spent talking to customers, he took time to have a great conversation. Since then, we talk, periodically, sharing ideas. He’s a master at building companies, including Apptio, Workfront, and now as CEO of Alkamai. Several years ago, he published a fascinating book about his learning as a leader, Done Right, How Tomorrow’s Top Leaders Get Things Done. Here’s Alex’s take on the subject.
Dave, being obsessed with selling depends upon the story you tell yourself about ‘What is Selling’. If you imagine selling to be Herb Tarlek from WKRP or Vin Diesel as Chris Varick in Boiler Room, you should hate it. But if you see selling for what it really is, you will know it is one of the most noble professions. I love selling and the story I tell myself about the definition of great selling is ‘Exchanging what you have or what you know for what some else hopes for’. Done wrong is manipulative. Done right is a gift to the other person. To exchange what you have or what you know for what someone else hopes for you must have the three C’s that all the greatest sales people in history have. Communication, Connection and Conviction.
To be a great salesperson you have to communicate in a clear and compelling manner. Clarity is about simplicity or as Ernest Hemingway said, “Easy writing makes hard reading”. And you have to be compelling, use a format such as The Hero’s Journey or even more simply realize that the greatest story ever told is about someone who overcomes something to get what they want. The someone is the customer. The something is the thing they hope for. Your job is to be Samwise Gamgee and carry Frodo up Mount Doom. Your communications should tell them the story that is going to occur.
To be a great sales person, you have to connect with the customer. Connecting means you understand them. Deeper, connecting means you empathize with them. Even deeper, connecting means that you are personally invested in helping them get what they want. In business to business selling, your customer gets paid to buy things. You are not extracting money from them against their will with some Jedi mind trick, you are helping them invest the resources of their company to accomplish things that are important to them. One of the greatest rewards for good selling is to see your customer get promoted.
Finally to be a great sales person you must have conviction that the product or service you are selling is truly good for your customer. You have to believe that what you have or know will help the customer get what they hope for. If you don’t believe in what you are selling; stop selling.
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Some have sales talent. Few have sales genius. Real sales genius is being able to discern what your customer hopes for, connect with them authentically so that you understand it, have conviction that you are truly helping them overcome something to get what they want and communicate in a clear and compelling manner their future after acquiring what you have or what you know.
There are a lot of great jobs out there, but for me, selling the pinnacle.
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