This Isn't About Sales

This Isn't About Sales
by Michael S. Clouse

Yes, I know to some of you, this is about sales... And I understand the
points you probably are making right now. Still, I have a real problem
with all this "sales" stuff.

Why? I'm glad you asked.

Selling is an art and a profession all its own. Selling is a teamed set
of skills that takes years to perfect. Tom Hopkins teaches, "No woman,
in a delivery room, ever gave birth to a salesperson." And back in 1979,
when I attended his "How to Master the Art of Selling Anything" boot
camp, I became a serious believer! Salespeople aren't born great. Sales
people are made great!

So what's the big deal? Why not just master the art of selling, and be
done with it? Well, it's not that simple…

Let me show you what I mean by asking you two questions. First: What is
the one thing you do exceptionally well?

Okay. Next question: How long did it take you to achieve the skills
necessary to become as extraordinarily excellent as you currently are?

Really? That long?

Are you beginning to see the problem?

When I decided to become a maven at this selling game, I went back to
school and studied—for years. Xerox's Professional Selling Skills I, II
& III...been there, done that. Zig Ziglar, Roger Dawson, Tony Robbins,
Brian Tracy...and on, and on, and on! Year after endless year, course
after never-ending course...and those are just a few of the better-known
classes. I won't even begin to mention all the First Interstate Bank
seminars (used to work there), or the AT&T events (worked there too), I
attended over the last 23-plus years.

Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I didn't enjoy the process. To
the contrary—I loved every minute of it! To this day the walls of my
home-office are filled with certificates, plaques and trophies; and like
you, I'm very proud of my accomplishments. The problem is that learning,
or worse yet, teaching someone how to sell isn't something that you or I
can easily duplicate. And isn't that what we are trying to accomplish in
Network Marketing? Aren't we attempting to create—or follow—a system
that anyone can replicate? Of course we are...

Finding people to sell and then selling the people you find isn't
duplicatable. And in Network Marketing, it doesn't work.

We're much better off sponsoring people who have a burning desire to
change their own lives and then plugging them into a system (using 3rd
party tools) that will allow them—regardless of their background—to
succeed at any level they truly desire.

So if the above is true, as leaders, what should we be doing? Frankly,
we would all be better served if we would focus more on learning a
duplicatable system, and less on perfecting our closing skills.

As one very wealthy Network Marketer once put it, "If you will become
the very best messenger you possibly can, the message will take care of
itself." Indeed it will....

All the best,

MSC

Copyright 2002 by Michael S. Clouse.
_______

Michael S. Clouse
Editor-in-Chief, Nexera e-News™.
Former Editor-in-Chief, Upline® Journal.

University of Illinois at Chicago
Certified Network Marketing Professional.

Author of Future Choice, Building Your Empire,
Seven Prospecting Secrets, Business Is Booming!
Prospecting 101, and The TeleCoaching Workshop.

Back To Index