Here's what being a salesman means to me - Click here for Part 2
written by john c ashworth
I have often felt stymied by that question, "what would you do, John, if you no longer needed to earn a living anymore?" What would you do with your time and your days if money was not a concern and you had no other responsibilities clamoring for your attention? What would be next?
Just this morning, as I hung up the phone following a very productive online showcase of the products I'm currently selling I realized something profound.
"There's actually no place I would rather be on a daily basis than selling and connecting with prospects and customers. Connecting with people."
Really, it's true.
I know it might sound a little corny and maybe even a little naive, but it's true. Of course, I would spend a lot more time here on The Ash Flash too and with a few of my other hobbies, but overall? This is where I love to be.
Why?
First, it's where the money is made in any business. And that's the game I've been playing for many years now. A game that feels quite familiar to the mission of my youth. Trying to put the soccer ball into the back of the net. It's always fun to be a part of the business development team and at the heart of helping to drive growth for any company. My own or otherwise. It's always fun to score. This is important work. After all, the primary reason anyone goes into business is to make money. Serving customers is essential, but you need to make money too. Don't ever forget that.
What I'm discovering as I get a little older, wiser, and exponentially better at my craft as a salesperson is someting much more profound and important for the health and success of your own sales team and your business as a whole. Your salsespeople are the people inside your company that most often possess the strongest relationships with your customers. They are the ambassadors of YOU and YOUR brand. The focal points of most of your initial and extremely important touchpoints inside your business and the system that serves them.
Sales is where the lasting and important connections with customers and prospects are started and very often solidified over the years when you have the right salespeople committed to their part in cultivating these relationships.
Notice that I still included prospects in that last sentence. Because even though I always hate to admit it, the reality is that at least initially, most people will NOT buy from you. Yet, there is still tremendous value in these interractions. For one, people often come back and buy later. Second, every interraction is a catalyst for sales expertise built over time and for the on-going goodwill you need to build inside your company's structures and systems. Much of that good will is cultivated through the interactions your salespeople have with your customers and prospects every day.
But there is something else I'm realizing about this process that gets to the core of why I would keep doing it whether I needed to or not. The part that I truly cherrish and that lives at the heart of what I do every day. The connection it creates with another human being.
A connection that, once established, can literally last a lifetime and that which is at the heart of all human interaction. Sales puts me in front of people with whom I would have never had the opportunity to interact and very often leads to new thoughts, new ideas, new relationships, and sometimes even new friendships.
In addition, when you're selling a good product, one that you believe in and that is truly designed to solve problems, these relationships and conversations and interactions solve problems for people and improve their business and their lives as a whole. When you're lucky enough to find yourself in such a role you have an extremely unique opportunity to serve those you come in contact day to day in rewarding ways. You have a unique opportunity to connect.
I look forward to working with you for years to come.
Now, I gotta get back on the telephone.
-John
