In an interview, Mark Cuban was asked: if you lost everything one day and had to start from scratch, what would you do to become successful again?
Cuban’s answer was blunt. First, he said, he would get a job as a bartender at night, which is quick money, and a sales job during the day. That’s how he did it when he started out, and that’s how he would do it again.
The interviewer asked whether he believed that would make him a millionaire all over again. Cuban’s verdict: he had absolutely no doubt about it.
Mark Cuban isn’t an isolated case in this respect. Most successful people agree that in any field it’s practically impossible to succeed without solid sales skills.
For some people, selling means deceiving, manipulating, pressuring the customer… and because of the bad professionals who have entered the world of sales, salespeople carry a stereotype often associated with charlatans, compulsive gamblers, liars and skirt-chasers. A notion very far from the reality of what I consider a good salesperson.
When it comes to sales, as we’ve said before, for better or worse, we’re all salespeople and we’re all constantly selling. It’s true that if things aren’t going well for you in life, it’s very likely down to your poor sales skills.
Didn’t get the position after a job interview? You were the product and you failed to sell yourself. Yes, it’s also likely that the product needs some improvements.
Every business owner needs sales skills from the moment the company is born. First, they have to convince others that an idea makes sense, show investors or banks that investing in or lending to their company is a good decision, and get others to see the benefits of working with us, our company or our product.
Sales skills are really communication skills at full power, as long as you never forget that you’re the product at all times. So they’ll help you with your social skills and even when it comes to winning over a partner.
Selling isn’t about reeling off your spiel to a customer and rushing them into signing a contract. It’s about listening to the person in front of you, offering them value, helping that person.
A good salesperson doesn’t make sales; they make customers. Because anyone can close a sale. All you have to do is deceive the customer and tell them what they want to hear. But to survive in the world of sales we need an intact reputation and integrity. Ultimately, in sales, half the work is done if customers trust you. And nobody trusts a person they know tends to lie and cheat.
The best way to learn these communication skills, without a doubt, is to work in sales for a while, because you won’t only learn about selling.
You’ll learn to negotiate.
Good salespeople learn to listen, assess, identify the key factors in a conversation, overcome objections, look for common ground between two parties and so on. Every job and every business involves negotiating with suppliers, customers and employees, so learning about sales is an investment in your future.
You’ll learn to be persistent.
Nobody hears the word “no” more often and for longer than someone who works in sales. Everyone has a limit beyond which they start to get frustrated. Well, a salesperson’s limit is much higher, and over time it becomes hard for an experienced salesperson to be frustrated by life’s rejections.
In fact, salespeople have come to see a “no” as a challenge rather than a rejection.
You’ll learn self-discipline.
Good salespeople tend to acquire certain habits that end up deeply rooted. That’s where discipline begins. Someone who works for a company can rest on their laurels, get to the end of the month and still be paid the same as the month before.
Salespeople, on the other hand, can’t afford to fall asleep, because part of their pay, and sometimes all of it, depends on their work and consistency. A salesperson learns very early on that they are the business, even if they work for someone else’s. And so they have to look after that temple.
Mark Cuban’s advice
If you’re an aspiring business owner (also known as an entrepreneur), set your business plan aside and work in sales for a year or two. If you’re a struggling entrepreneur, take a part-time sales job. It’s very likely that the problems you’re going through are, to some extent, down to your poor sales skills.
Cuban explained that, knowing his sales skills and the products he can sell, he believes he could find a job selling a product with enough commission for him. That would give him enough seed money to start his own business, and that way he would keep working in sales, but now for himself rather than for an employer.
This reminds me of an Italian businessman who was asked what he would do if he had to start all over again. He said he would buy a good suit and Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People. He would go to parties and events where there were businesspeople, and that would lead him back to success. What was this businessman talking about? Obviously, sales.
Featured image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
