“Sales is simply this: The passionate transference of belief.”
– Steve Heston
Some, over the years, have gotten all wrapped around the axle on the word “passionate.” It’s easy to mistake “flamboyant” or “flashy” for “passionate,” but they’re not synonyms in this context. Dictionary.com offers, as one definition of the word “passionate:” Expressing, showing or marked by intense or strong feeling. Some of the most passionate sales pros I’ve seen are the least flashy and flamboyant. Their intensity comes across powerfully, and their passion is every bit as compelling as that exhibited by their eloquent or more animated peers.
Passion is only part of the puzzle, though.
Transference — the verb — is obviously critical, because sales is also an argument of sorts. If the buyer shared the same perspective as the seller, there’d be no need for the sellin’ part. So, taking what a sales pro knows and transferring it to the prospective client — and making it the clients’ own — that’s where the work gets done. Convincing, persuading, selling — it’s all transference…
Of BELIEF.
If a sales leader sends his / her team out with only one arrow in the quiver, it had better be belief. Over the long haul, one simply can’t sell much of what they don’t believe, or believe in.
Too much time is spent on training sales skills. Too much time is spent on teaching negotiation skills. Not nearly enough time is spent establishing belief and giving that belief staying power. Think of the least outspoken, pushy person you know. Then think of something they believe so powerfully that you just know they can sell the heck out of it. Maybe it’s Faith, or discipline or “yes, ma’am, no ma’am,” It can be about anything.
When we believe, and that belief is shown, or marked by intense or strong feeling, and we work diligently to transfer that belief to the person on the other side of the desk — we’ve made a difference, and most likely, a sale, too.
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