Editor’s Note: This one’s for you High Jive
Blake Ebel, Executive Vice President and Executive Creative Director at Euro RSCG/Chicago, wrote an essay on salesmanship for TalentZoo.
Think for a moment about what great salesmen have that the others don’t. For starters you sense that you can trust them. Even if it’s just a little. Maybe they warned you about a product that looks good but doesn’t perform well. Or they convinced you to buy the cheaper, but just as capable, product. They have your best interest in mind. They’re honest. Even if it means they don’t get the huge order that day because they know they’ll get it eventually.
Ebel knows his subject well. What he describes in one simple paragraph is the very essence of sales and sales professionals. While I’m not much of a salesman myself (although I’m working on it!), my dad and both of my grandfathers were exceptional salesmen. I know what a great salesman looks like.
A few years ago at our favorite restaurant on Marco Island, my dad told me I wasn’t a salesman. He was trying to help, of course, and he did help. Because now I’m conscious of that perception–that people see me as something other than a salesman. It’s not right or wrong that I am or am not a salesman, but it’s important to know who and what you are, so you can make the best of your natural abilities while working to perfect the things that do not come naturally.
