Selling For Dummies
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If you’re in a career sales position, you probably have to sell other items in the product line that may not be your favorites. As in any area of life, in the world of selling, if you have the wrong attitude, you can end up being your own worst enemy.

Many people in selling situations have a challenge with their own likes and dislikes — they tend to sell only what they like and mostly to the people they like. You do need to like and believe in what you’re selling.

You must always keep what’s right for the customer in the forefront of your mind. If you sell only what you like, you severely limit your income and you leave yourself, at the end of the day, with plenty of things on hand that you don’t like. Then what will you do?

Your job is to enthusiastically sell whatever benefits your customers, whoever they may be. During your selling career, you’ll have to work with some people whom you won’t particularly like. If you refuse to work with some people, both you and the customers lose. You lose opportunities to make sales, and the customers lose opportunities to have their needs satisfied. The people you turn down will get their needs filled by someone else. The moral of the story: Keep your mind and your opportunities open.

Be sure not to prejudge people when you’re selling to them. Whether you realize it or not, you make some sort of judgment about people the moment you lay eyes on them. You judge them based on their physical conditions, their clothing, their hairstyle, their posture. In selling situations, though, acting on preconceptions is a dangerous habit that you need to control. If you’re committed to becoming a professional, force yourself to look at every potential client with clear vision. Eliminate those preconceived notions before they start costing you money!

Treat your prospects with the respect you’d expect to receive were you in their shoes. This may sound suspiciously similar to the Golden Rule — Do unto others as you would have them do unto you — as well it should. Keep in mind the following tips about the kind of attitude you need to have in the world of selling, and your self‐control will pay off in the long run:

  • If you want others to agree with you, you must first be agreeable.

  • Don’t let people’s outward appearances affect the way you react to them.

  • Always act as though each person you contact is the most important person in your life.

If what you’re offering is vitally important to you, your product, service, or idea can be a significant link for you to billions of other people who need what you have to offer.

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Tom Hopkins is the epitome of sales success. A millionaire by the time he reached the age of 27, he is now chairman of Tom Hopkins International Inc., one of the most prestigious sales-training organizations in the world.

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