WHAT I'VE LEARNED FROM DOING 500 SALES CALLS

Want to increase your sales? Rather than manipulate your potential clients, serve them.

- NEIL GORDON

ON sales calls, I’m usually the guy doing the selling. But recently, I took on a different role: I was the client being pitched. The stakes for the salesperson were high because they were trying to sell me a five-figure product.

Truth be told, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The offer itself was fine, but the salesperson was dreadful. She tried to manipulate me into buying, which made me feel like I needed a shower. But even worse, it left me frustrated about the entire sales industry. I’ve interacted with too many salespeople who think trickery is the only way to land a sale.

It’s just not true

In fact, I have been on the receiving end of several sales pitches that weren’t remotely manipulative and successfully led to my saying yes—even if the offer was priced at five figures.

The difference? I actually believed that the salesperson wanted to help me to grow my business.

That’s it.

This isn’t just me and my own temperament as a buyer. It’s something I’ve proven in sales myself. I have personally conducted more than 500 sales calls in the past couple of years and received a yes from about half of those people. This taught me that effective sales has little to do with manipulation. Instead, it has everything to do with being of genuine service.

Let’s begin by considering the difference between manipulation and service. I’ll admit that as I thought about how to write this story, I felt a conundrum: Isn’t any sales tactic, even one that’s done in earnest, ultimately a form of manipulation that’s designed to boost the bottom line?