Coffee's for Closers

1Introduction to Sales

‘Success is the ability to move from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm’.

—Winston Churchill

I was born with what people call ‘the gift of the gab’. I had to be the class clown and centre of attention, and my goal at school was to make people laugh. I knew I had a great day when I had everyone in stitches. I was over the moon when my parents returned from parents' evening and my dad had that expression plastered all over his face. My reports consistently said, ‘He has lots of potential, but just doesn't use it. He's a very likeable and popular boy though and really makes people laugh all day long’. To me, that was the best report you could get; how naive I was! My parents' friends always used to say to me, ‘You'll be a great salesman, as you've got an answer for everything and can talk the talk’.

My first boss in software sales taught me one of the most important lessons in sales that I have never forgotten – you have two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly. This is backed up by an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who created a principle known as the Pareto's law – the 80/20 rule. It's a rule that can be applied to many scenarios, such as in retail, where they say 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your products. When applied to sales, if you are on the phone to a prospect, you should be speaking 20% and listening 80%. People love to talk, it's human nature, so let them. If people talk, they are comfortable; if they're comfortable, ...