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Sometimes Honesty Is the Best Policy
In more than 40 years as a salesperson, Jacques Werth has accomplished at least two things: He's made a lot of money and learned a lot about sales, enough to write a book entitled High Probability Selling. Werth's view of selling is simple but unusual: just be honest. The following is from an interview with Werth.
| Q: | What is the biggest mistake that salespeople make? |
| A: | Most people think that it's important to be aggressive in sales, but the opposite is true. Aggressive people are too pushy. They try to persuade people -- to convince them to buy. |
| Q: | Why? Aren't salespeople supposed to persuade people? |
| A: | Most people dislike being persuaded. It's much better to find consumers who want to buy your product and arrive at an agreement that makes everybody happy. |
| Q: | How do you do that? |
| A: | You find out quickly who isn't going to buy your product and move on. People may be interested, but they're not necessarily going to buy. They just waste your time. |
| Q: | So what kind of person makes the best salesperson? |
| A: | Honest people who will listen to the customer and tell the truth. |
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