Don’t Be a Salesman, I’m begging you! The Best Sales Advice I’ve Ever Gotten

What follows is perhaps some of the best sales advice I’ve ever been given.

“Hey man, what’s the best piece of sales advice you could give me?” Said a younger and far broker me.

“Haha, the best advice? Easy. DON’T BE A SALESMAN.”

The Mindset Shift

Like you, my first instinct was to discount absolutely everything he said after that point. “Screw it”, I said to myself. “I have a lot to learn”.

“The minute they see you as a salesman, they’ll never see you as anything else. You, are a provider of VALUE.” I soon caught on to what he was saying. Your goal, is to provide VALUE, whether they buy from you or not. This is not a sales tactic, this is a shift in your mindset.

Provide value. And I PROMISE, you will soon receive it.

And listen, I get it. I like making sales. I like making money. It pays, and DAMNIT IT FEELS GOOD. But I was also once told, “A hungry salesman, STAYS hungry”.

When you sit down with a client, your goal should be to “educate” them on the “opportunity” or “opportunities” that they have by using your product or service. When you put the client’s interests above yours, trust me, they can tell. To this day, I still remember what one of clients said to me:

“It’s like she didn’t care if I bought or not, THAT’S why I bought from her and no one else”.

STOP TALKING AND LISTEN.

Your clients can tell when you’re being pushy, when you’re being a “salesman”. I’ve had clients (well paying clients) tell me that they’ve not only noticed that I’m not pushy, but appreciated it. It gave them an opportunity to evaluate their decision on their own. You don’t want the client to buy because YOU want them to buy, you want them to buy from you because THEY think it’s a good idea. Shit, I’ve even seen clients (multiple clients) buy from a salesman just to please them, just to go and drop the policies later on.

Sidenote: Cancelled policies can not only damage your reputation, but depending on your company, cancelled policies can hurt your ability to receive bonuses and incentives in the future. “Quality over quantity” every teacher ever once told me.

The key is to STOP TALKING and listen! Pay attention to what your clients value. If you tailor your suggestions based on what your clients value, they’re WAY MORE likely to purchase something from you. In my own experiences, I’ve had clients turn down CHEAPER products in order to buy a product that better suited their interests for a much bigger ticket.

Don’t know ‘bout you, but that’s friggin fine by me!

Conclusion

The more value you provide to your clients, the more they will trust you, your opinions, your suggestions, and the more value you will receive in return. You may not always see it right away, but trust me, you will. Clients will not only buy from you when the time is right, but they’ll buy MORE, and they’ll refer you to others. Put their interests above your own, and you will rewarded.

By shifting your mindset to become an educator and a provider of value and information, you will not only build your client base, but also strengthen the relationship that you have with each and every one of them.

Leave a comment down below, what’s the best advice that you guys have been given?