The Profit Center

I want to talk to you about the selling mindset (no case studies, research, or examples today).

What is selling?

I've mentioned this before, that when you look at selling, it's not about just trying to sell somebody a product or a service just to get money.

I'm often asked, "Victor, is money a motivator?" Of course, it's a motivator, but at the end of the day, it's not the only motivator. It's part of the equation. We all have to pay bills. Until somebody makes living free, money is always important just like until somebody invents a way for us not to breathe, oxygen is always important. Selling is important because selling is the engine that moves the economy. Nothing happens until something gets sold.

When you look at the profession of selling, people say that it has this negative connotation.

Here's the reality I always tell people: everybody in a company, is a cost center except sales people. Accounting is a cost center. Marketing is a cost center. Management, cost center. Operations, cost center. Salespeople, however, are a profit center because they're out there generating revenue. Now, I get that obviously somebody developed a product, marketing is involved, management involved, all that. But at the end of the day, if you can't sell the product or service you created, it doesn't matter, you're out of business. So salespeople, having the right sales mindset is vital to a company's survival.

Sometimes I think sales people are afraid to sell because they think they're giving something of no value, in exchange for something of value; money. That's when you know you have the wrong mindset.

When you don't have the right mindset for selling, when you don't know how to sell the product, when you're too afraid to sell your product, you need to get out of selling. It's either one of two things:

1. You're selling the wrong product or service, which means you need to find the right product or service. I can't tell you how many people I've met in my lifetime in sales who don't believe in the product.
2. You don't like selling, for whatever reason, then you need to get out of selling. I can't tell you how many people I've met in my lifetime in sales who don't believe in the product, and they just want to make money.

I'd be remiss if I didn't emphasize that I don't have a problem with making money; I love the profit motive. I love self-interest, but there's a difference between self-interest and selfishness.

Selfish is when you sell something that you know is not going to help the customer but you want to make money, that is selfish. You are not being a true salesperson.

Self-interest, however, is selling something of value in exchange for value. When you sell something of value to somebody, or some company, because you know it's going to help them, you know they can use it when you sell something of value in exchange for value, then that is self-interest.

Too often when people view the profession of selling, they view it through the lens of selfishness. That is, selling something of little or no value, at least to that customer, or that client, or company, only for the sake of making money. I don't like forcing people to buy something or tricking people into buying something, that's not my philosophy.

I truly believe that salespeople do not have to cheat. They do not have to lie, they do not have to bend the truth. Will you lose some sales? Yeah, of course, you will, but I like to sleep at night by knowing I didn't screw my customers over. I didn't lie to them, I laid it on the table, I gave them my best sales pitch, and that's all you can do.

That to me is selling with integrity.

I want you to keep that in mind because I believe that selling with integrity is the long game. Selling with zero integrity is the short game. You'll make some quick sales by lying to people, you'll get their money by just bending the truth or omitting things out of a conversation, (otherwise lying by omission). You'll make the short-term money, but that's the short game. I like the long game.

I want to be in this profession of selling for a long time. I want to provide value where people go.

Too often we get bombarded by social media, and we see all of these people. You've seen these sponsorship ads, "How to make a million dollars in five days using blah, blah, blah system. or "How to make da-da-da-da-da and live the life you wanted using blah, blah, blah system." What they're promising you is that overnight, more or less four or five days, or five months, you're going to be a gazillionaire. Now you know that that is a type of sales pitch that is a lie. You know this and I know this, but yet, people still fall for it. And you know what? The person that put out that advertisement will probably make some money. They probably will. I don't like it, but the reality is, there's a sucker born every minute. To me, that's a short-term game because eventually that person's reputation.

Self-interest is selling something of value, that you know will help, that you know the customer wants or needs, and then you make some money and that is your value. That's what selling is. It doesn't have to be more than that. It just has to be this desire to help other people.

One of the things I've written about before is the formula for selling.

1. Know your product and know the value it offers. After that, all you have to do is add a desire to help. That is what's going to propel you into being a great salesperson. Know your product, know the people you want to reach, know how to do a presentation, and always maintain that positive attitude.
2. I also think when you force your salespeople to bend the truth, you create dissatisfied salespeople because eventually, we've all had this experience at one time or another. When you didn't tell the truth, you bent the truth, you lied by omission, and how do you feel about that later on?

It may seem like other people are getting ahead because they're taking shortcuts and bending the truth, but at the end of the day, the question is, do you want to sleep well at night? Do you want to be known as that person of integrity, that person that sells from the heart, but also sells people what they want, what they need? You have a true desire to help. You know your product or service has value, and that's what you're about. That's who you are. It's all about selling with integrity, and it's all about self-interest. Provide value and it's okay to get value in return.

Understanding your customers' motivations, using upselling strategies, and blocking objections, can help you sell your product or service with a newfound clarity.

?Communicating the full value you can bring to someone is crucial to creating more profit.

Victor Antonio has a B.S. Electrical Engineering, an MBA and built a 20-year career as a top sales executive, then President of Global Sales and Marketing for a $420M company before becoming a sales trainer, author, and keynote speaker. He has shared the stage with top business speakers: Rudy Giuliani, Paul Otellini (CEO of Intel), and John May (CEO of FedEx Kinkos). He's the author of 12 books on sales and motivation and 200+ sales training videos. More info at www.VictorAntonio.com