“Selling with noble purpose is about making a difference to customers. And if you’re in sales, that’s what you’re here for.” – Lisa McLeod in today’s Tip 872
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Lisa McLeod. Lisa is the global expert on purpose-driven business. She is the author of five books, including her bestseller: Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud. Here she is:
Lisa McLeod: How did people react when you tell them that you’re in sales? Do they go, “Oh, wow, that sounds exciting” and lean into a conversation? Or do they go, “Oh, my…” Hi, I’m Lisa McLeod. I’m the author of Selling With Noble Purpose. And I want to talk to you a little bit about the public perceptions about sales and why they’re not really accurate. You know the first time I encountered this was about a million years ago. It was when I was graduating from college. If you have a college senior in your home or you were finishing up school yourself, you know the number one question, everybody asks you when you’re getting out of school. “So do you have a job?” And so I had spent a couple months as a senior with everyone asking me this question, and I had finally landed my dream job. I had gotten an offer to be a salesperson for Procter and Gamble, and I was so excited, I couldn’t stand it.
So I got the offer on Monday. I accepted immediately. And that weekend I was going to a party with my boyfriend, who later became my husband, and we were going to a party at his boss’s house. And he’s a couple of years older than me. So he was already out of school and he had grown up job. So we’re going to this party and I know everybody’s going to ask me the question, but I’ve got an answer this time.
So we go to the party and his boss’s wife, very nice, says “So I understand you graduate from college. What are you going to be doing?” And I got my answer, I say “I’ve got a job in sales.” And she kind of looks at me and she says, “Oh my, I don’t know if I could do that.” And I was so excited about my job that I did not understand what she meant when she said, “I don’t know if I could do that.” I thought she was saying it like you’d say it to like a firefighter or a brain surgeon, like, “Wow, that sounds really challenging and cool. I don’t know if I could do that.” If you’ve been in sales, you know, that’s not what she meant. Because you see, there’s something interesting about the sales profession. It’s one of the few professions where we let the people who do it badly define the entire profession.
And here’s what the research tells us, though.
Is it entirely different story, because the research tells us that the salespeople, who are the best salespeople in terms of top of the numbers beloved by their customers? Yes they are, are actually people that aren’t this perception that we have of this grabby, self-absorbed, don’t listen, lying person that’s not who actually does define our profession in reality.
In reality, the top-performing sellers are the people who care very deeply about their customers, who want to make a difference, who lean into the customer’s goals and challenges and put it at the very front of their agenda. And yes, they are beloved by their customers.
So if I could go back in time, what I would tell this woman is, “Yes, I am going into sales. You know why? Because I want to make a difference to people and I want to be at the center of the economic engine. That’s why I’m going into sales.” Not because I’m one of those grabby, pushy people who doesn’t listen, doesn’t care, is actually the opposite. So selling with noble purpose is about making a difference to customers. And if you’re in sales, that’s what you’re here for. Have a great day!
Scott Ingram: For more about Lisa including a link to get your hands on Selling with Noble Purpose, just click over to DailySales.Tips/872
Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!