Stjepan Werft is a management coach and sales trainer living in Croatia. He is one of the "first generation" of systemic coaches that we trained in Europe, and one of the most diligent in applying systemic coaching to his career in management and sales coaching. Martyn Carruthers

The Origin of Sales Success

I live in a small country where almost 90% of our economy relies on wholesale and retail sales. From this statement one could say that all of the people in this country are born salesmen. But that is very far from the truth. Most of them are in a sales business because such work was easier to get (most job positions on the market are in sales) or because they had no other chances.

Typical sales people are neither motivated nor competent. Many of them learn through "trial and error" or they model co-workers on the job. If they are lucky, their company pays for some kind of sales training. But most learning opportunities go to waste because of shaky or absent sales foundations.

Are you Really a Sales-Person?

What is the foundation for successful sales? What is the core structure in every good salesman that enables long-term and sustainable success in sales? As with other areas of life, the answer lies behind the ancient question, "Who am I?"

That is the origin of our beliefs and values, our creativity and intrinsic motivation. Our emotions are derived from that source and they are drivers of our behaviors. The last part of us is our rational mind ? a place where all our decisions and choices come from and where we solve problems of everyday life. We are often very aware of the thoughts and rational decisions, but our emotions and where they come from stay hidden from us.

A very simple example is when a young salesman gets in action. Is he aware of his fears? No! He can do everything...until he has to make a "cold" call to a potential client. All sorts of emotions and blocks surface at that moment. Most of them hinder him in making a successful sales call. Many of inexperienced salesman never jump over that hurdle, but they manage to find a good excuse or rationale for their failure. Sounds familiar?

Five Factors of Sales Success

There are many factors that influence sales success, from the early-childhood development to the environmental influences, beliefs handed down from parents, education, birth order, among others. The following factors are likely to strongly influence your sales success:

1. Your view of Selling
2. Your view of your Abilities
3. Your Values
4. Your commitment to Activities
5. Your belief in Product

All five of these dimensions must be congruent for you to sell to your highest potential. If you try to sell a product or service that conflicts with your inner values, or that you don't believe it creates value for customer, you'll experience inner conflicts. Likewise, if you don't believe you have the abilities to do it, the same result will happen to you.

1. View of Selling is your internal belief about what the process of selling really is. Is it something you do to people, or something you do for them? Is it process of persuading and convincing? Or one of identifying wants or needs to be filled? Your internal definition of selling plays a major role in your work as a salesman.
    
2. View of Abilities is your internal belief about who you are, how capable you are, and what levels of success you deserve to enjoy. We all have our internal set of beliefs about what's possible for us to achieve. Our unconscious beliefs are so powerful that they blind us to opportunities, results and goals that are outside our current mental paradigms.
    
3. Values are the rules or internal guidelines by which we live our lives. They determine the boundaries of our behavior - they define what you will do and what you won't do. Often, salespeople are asked to do selling activities that conflict with their values and that creates internal stress. But when they perform consistent with their values, they perform with energy and confidence.
    
4. Commitment to Activities means performing the necessary activities that must be done in order to successfully sell. If we are goal-driven salespeople, who have healthy view of selling, who believe they have the abilities to sell successfully, and whose beliefs are consistent with their values, want to do the necessary activities.
    
5. Belief in Product occurs when salespeople believe that what they are selling gives customer value that exceeds the cost. As this belief is internalized, it becomes a conviction that then motivates them to create as much value for customer as they can. A sense of integrity, or authenticity, is then subliminally communicated to customer. Trust develops. Salespeople sell more. Customers are happier and more loyal.

So, the next time you experience a drop in sales, look inside yourself first. Examine and assess these five dimensions. See what can be done to improve sales from within. And then you won't need to rationalize your failure and blame difficult customers, poor products or unfavorable market conditions.

Why not let your sales flourish in a systemic way? I coach motivated people to develop these five dimensions and then to find or build their inner salesperson.

(This Sales Congruence Model is based on Ron Willingham's book "Integrity Selling for the 21st Century")

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Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Stjepan Werft 2009-2012 All rights reserved.

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Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Martyn Carruthers 1996-2012 All rights reserved. Soulwork Systemic Coaching was primarily developed by Martyn Carruthers
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