The Fear of Selling As a Professional

Among the major reasons we despise selling is that it has a bad reputation due to the awful buying experiences we've had as customers at the hands of pushy, unethical, and poorly trained sales personnel.

When a sale is done well, we rarely even notice it is being made because it feels so natural.

We trust and get along with the person who is assisting us in making the purchase. Ultimately, we are happy with exchanging our money in return for the merchandise or service.

In order to sell effectively as a professional, you must be sensitive to your customer's needs and carefully match your product or service with their needs. This same selling principle extends to various professions. By professional in this context of selling means an extensive view across all industries of a person engaged or qualified in a profession, for example, trainer, lawyer, coach, doctor, administrator and so on.

The inherent fear of failure among professionals is another important issue to account for.

A professional is someone who is regarded highly by customers and is recognized as an authority figure; they cannot be seen to falter!

Professionals are educated people, who opposed to taking risks, and selling can be a risky endeavor.

Probably selling is the furthest career option in our minds in the first place. How often have you heard a child declaring to work as a sales person when grown up?

It goes without saying that certain people are born with personalities and traits that make it simple for them to interact with others, establish rapport, and win their trust. Consequently, they find it rather easy to sell.

Since selling also do not come readily to others, they must work hard at it.

Sales people have to identify clients or customers or buyers who perhaps didn't want to see them. Even worse, it is usual to encounter individuals who lied, tried to mislead, missed appointments, cancelled orders, and had a poor credit history. It's a fact that people treat salespeople differently than they do other people. It may cause the feeling of being mistreated.

Salespeople experience a life of emotional highs (seldom) and lows (mostly), including the rush of making a sale and the anguish of rejection nearly all the time. Needless to say, turnover rate of sales personnel is high, as much as eight out of every nine persons who begin the industry of sales quit it because of this emotional roller coaster. Many decide not to sell again.

Still, you may discover that selling is important in many jobs. In fact, you may need to sell everyday.

Whether you are aware of it or not, all professions are service providers, who are constantly pitching ideas to clients, frequently persuading the management for buy-in or presenting to co-workers about solutions to solve problems.

A word on selling is that all interaction is a sales situation, as long as you need to get people to accept your ideas, products, or services. Even promotions are reserved for star performers generating revenue! Most often, the rise to the top is easier with selling success.

In conclusion, you would learn by now that there are many reasons to fear selling. On the same note, you can also know that selling is a skill, which is like any other skill that you learn. And because you have gotten rather proficient at your other abilities, you can say that selling is a skill that could also be learnt. In time, better selling will remedy the fear of selling as well.