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Let's talk about sales.
Excuse me, there's the phone. No, I don't want vinyl siding. Goodbye.
Where was I? Oh yes, sales. Let's talk
about professional sales and why you're in sales whether you know it (or like it) or not.
Technical people generally disparage sales and sales
people, disbelieving their importance. Some advice: Get Over It. Deride individual sales people if you want, but don't blast sales in general. It makes
you look anti-business, which is not a good attitude if you're job hunting. The old advice about creating a better mousetrap and having customers beat
a path to your door is a fairy tale. Create a better mousetrap today without sales, and you'll have only one hit on your web site (if your mother is
online).
There are two parts to the sales question we're going to examine today: first, a position in sales; second, how to use sales in your
position.
No matter what you're doing now, a sales career is possible. This is especially true in high technology areas, perhaps more so than
in any other field. Why? Because few salespeople understand high tech, yet their customers constantly beg for information and details.
When I
was in sales, my secret was simple: I knew everything my customers needed or wanted to know about my products. Customers couldn't get me out of the
office by sending me off to do research, since I either knew every answer or could convincingly bluff. Am I a genius? No, my company was too small to
have any technical support people, so every network I sold, I installed. If I didn't install it, the customer didn't pay, and therefore I didn't get
paid. One learns fast under such conditions.
Why would you want to disgrace your good name and become a salesperson? Factoid: three quarters of
the people making over $100,000 per year are in some type of sales (true three years ago, but inflation may have warped that a little). Read that
again: three out of four employees with over $100,000 on their tax return are in some type of sales.
When people ask me how to get into the
computer business, I always tell them to get a job selling or servicing technology to their own industry. Car repair techs, bookkeepers, and carpet
layers can break into the computer biz selling computer hardware or software to other repair techs, bookkeepers, or carpet stores. These people will
have it even easier than I did because they will have instant credibility with the prospect. I had to convince people I understood networks, but these
computer converts will be "one of us" to all of their prospects. They will establish an immediate, personal connection with their future
customers, bypassing three or four painful sales steps immediately.
"Sales" goes by many titles today. "Pre-sales Engineer"
is popular in high tech. You still call yourself an engineer, except you help the customer figure out the right products from the start. This keeps
your buddies back in the support department from having to clean up after another stupid sales job. You get commission, and your old buddies get the
late nights.
Second, sales techniques can improve your position right where you are. You "sell" your boss on your projects and
methods every day. Call it "fooling that idiot once again" if you want, but it's still sales.
If you are the boss, you must sell your
employees every day on your vision and goals. What would happen if you yelled, "my way or the highway" to a group of high tech employees? The
clicking sound you heard would come from "upload resume" buttons.
In a flash of point one and point two convergence, the sales
technique for customers and co-workers is the same: Make their life easier. That's it. That's all you need to know for sales success. Well, there are a
few more details, but one column can't save the world.
"Save money" is the sales tool of many, but that's far too limiting. Money
isn't everyone's prime motivator. Many would rather save time, avoid unpleasant tasks, get respect from peers, or even be left alone more often. Each
is a way of making their life easier.
If you can't empathize with your boss enough to figure out ways to make his or her life easier, ask for
help. Make life easier for your boss and get promoted. Make life more complicated for your boss and suffer.
"Sell" your boss on your
value by making his life easier. Sell your potential boss on why you will make her life easier by saving time, saving money, or increasing revenue.
Those are the magic words to managers and business owners.
Companies have enough problems. They want solutions. Sell them on you as their
solution, no matter if the job title includes the word sales.
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