Good to great

 A good salesman to a great salesman.

There is a big difference between a good salesman and a great salesman. A good salesman  usually completes a successful transaction at the earliest, moves on to the next kill, which of course is crucial for any business.

However a great salesman will not only focus on a particular transaction but go beyond and work on building trust, credibility, which are the foundation for building  long term relationships, these relationship go beyond a single transaction, requiring investment in terms of time and energy, but the mutual rewards are many.

In a fast paced world, with real time abundant information flow, investing time on building trust & confidence may seem a bit odd, the performing sales people just take an order and run to milk the next fat cow, they need to have that gratification now, who knows if the fruit still hangs on with many hungry hands prying for that low hanging fruit, so grab it before its gone is what they feel.

But let me reveal a secret, if you invest your time on building that trust and credibility, delaying that urge to have it now, then the prospects/customers are no longer a prospect or a customer, they become your friends and an extended arm, the rewards of which is much more than expected, surely a delayed  gratification requires persistence and patience, but worth much more in the end.

All through the ages, there is always an internal war between the  desire for instant gratification and the ability to resist it for an increased gain later, to know more on this check the “ Stanford Marshmallow Test” conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel which clearly showed that children who delayed instant gratification went on to become much more successful than those who could not resist the pleasure of instant gratification.

Every salesman is faced with this internal voice, grab it now or wait. A good or great salesman is made depending on which voice wins.

Whether you are in sales or not before you choose anything just pause for few seconds and think, now or later and what you become is that choice playing  :)

 # good to great