Busting the Sales Myths


There are three sales myths that some salespeople still believe. I find it hard to believe; but I guess I shouldn’t because it fits with the delusional behaviour of many salespeople. The same delusional behaviour that sees them spending most of their time with clients who will never justify the return on investment - or sees them in a burst of enthusiasm producing sales projections that are a triumph of optimism over reality. Be honest, we’re all guilty of it.

So, here are the three myths that need to be disposed of immediately.

1. The market is a level playing field
With apologies to the competition commissions and fair trade tribunals around the world – of course it isn’t. Never was, probably never will be. The only way that would be possible is if all the competitors in the market had equal power. And we know that’s not the case. The big and powerful will try to use their muscle to manipulate the market and the smaller competitors will be reliant on their ingenuity, uniqueness and flexibility to glean themselves a slice of the cake.

So, once you accept the reality of this, you realise that you need to do everything you can to tilt the playing field your way. To do this you need to be in a position of influence, so your first goal should be to put yourself into such a position with the decision makers and appropriate stakeholders. You might do this by working to have them see you as not just an expert in your products, but an industry expert .
2. Your competitors will play by the rules
Rules? What do you think this is – scrabble? Apart from the trade practices regulations, anything is fair game. You should use this by being pro-active. If your competition isn’t accusing you of cheating; you’re not being inventive enough. You should be constantly looking for ways that you can tilt the playing field in a way that suits you and also benefits the client. This last part is all-important because any suggested change must be presented as an initiative designed to address the client’s need – not yours. While it is fine for your competition to accuse you of not playing fair; if the client thinks you are trying to manipulate the process to suit yourself, you’ve got problems!

3. You have more information about your product than your client
This used to be the case not so long ago. As the salesperson, you were their primary source of information about your product. Often, you were their only source of information about your products. Now, they not only have all the data on the company website, they have access to every blog, forum or discussion board where your product is mentioned. For the first time since modern marketing methods evolved, consumers of the same product have easy access to each other.

Does this make the salesperson redundant? Far from it; but it does mean that their role might change. In the past they were the information source; now, they need to be the information sorter. This doesn’t mean that you won’t provide new information. There will probably always be some information that you can access that the client can’t; but providing that information won’t be your most important role because the client will have so much additional information that they have accessed themselves. Your problem with clients is not their ignorance, it is their pre-conceptions. Information is not knowledge. Ironically, more information does not necessarily make you better informed. It has been shown that beyond a certain point, more information makes decision making harder. It has been described as ‘analysis paralysis’. This is where a skilled salesperson comes in – asking the right questions, helping to prioritise criteria and sorting the information overload so the client can make sense of it all and, most importantly, regain their decision-making confidence.


The salesperson who will thrive in this environment will be more of a facilitator than an information source, more of a questioner than a teller.

The era of the ‘re-invented’ salesperson is upon us. This person will be more a trusted buying adviser than a product pusher – and they will be more important than ever.

You can read mor about this 're-invented'sales technique at http://www.tiltsell.com/