Do you have the guts to do sales? Most engineer-types would say “yes”, but feel “HELL NO”. They’d probably claim its not adding value, boring, or beneath their skills. They are dead wrong. An engineer with the guts to go into sales has the sky as his limit. However, here are the fears you have to somehow, overcome.

1. Rejection: this is a major one for engineers, and why so many of them propose so few truly new ideas. In sales, rejection is continuous until you get the check.
2. Slime: many people think sales is a slimy business… rife with kickbacks and bribes… they are “thank goodness” dead wrong. People who rely on this went out of style with “The Godfather” (great movie, but far from reality today).
3. Cold Calling: calling people is not fun, especially for engineer types or managers who constantly get cold called and hate it. Honestly, I’m stuck here…. I HATE cold calling, and flatly refuse to do it… I’m always wondering if it is hurting me: but in the world of Email, why can’t we arrange a time to talk in advance????
4. Pitching: Many engineer-types think pitching a product and “selling” means lying or being deceitful… if so, you should STOP watching Godfather, and instead pick up a copy of the book: “SPIN Selling“.. which actually is not about “spinning at all” but asking questions to help determine IF your product has value to the client… if it doesn’t, MOVE ON!
5. Closing: funny, many engineer-types (myself included) probably think this means “getting to yes”. I’m starting to learn though: closing is getting to “yes or no”, then moving on when appropriate. In high-tech, getting a “no” is as hard as getting a “yes”… in both cases, the hard part is asking for it!

Here are a few that you’ll worry about once you get here:

1. Feeling worthless: since you’re not ‘making anything’, or ‘desiging anything’ … and it feels like you’re “closing” very little (unless you count the ‘nos’… which you should)… you’ll feel like a lot of work for very little result. Trick is to remember, every deal has a “life-time value”, not just the current sale.
2. Lack of forward progress: similarly, since you’re probably not counting ‘nos’ as successes (you should), you’ll feel like your never getting anywhere. By the way, most clients will not say “yes” or “no”… which is even more frustrating!

Here’s the solution.. READ A BOOK OR 2 on SALES!

Its funny, so few sales-people are reading sales-books… and so many are writing them!

Pick up a book!!!!

Here are a few I really enjoyed:
SPIN Selling
Sales Bible
Its Not Luck

Seth’s Blog had a recent post about “Leading with your Glass Jaw“. His idea was that only the bravest and most secure companies will interact publicly with customers… and the weakest ones will shape up quickly if they start to do it. I think he’s probably right: every company has a weakness (or 2)…a glass jaw if you will. However, I think he missed the boat with his post & headline. I believe, in the age of skepticism and skimp, of reviews and ‘word-of-mouth’ power, we should all be leading with our glass jaw…in truth in our products strengths AND weaknesses.

Too many companies “lie by omission” about their products real value. They hope that people won’t notice the blatant flaws, and that people won’t mind the “idiosyncrasies”.

In reality, companies should be up-front with their customers and in their marketing materials… ADMIT to your weaknesses. Expose the glass jaw. Why? If customers start to hit it… THEY look like the bad guys… after all you were very clear and up-front about your problems/issues.

In fact, done right, your other customers will stand up for you (if they like your “main” value proposition).

Want the best example in the world? Apple.

They admit that their CPUs and GPUs aren’t as modern as PC. They admit that their software is tied to their hardware (closed platform). They admit to “blocking google voice”… and more!

And OH how the people defend them….

Be Apple, tell the truth… up front!

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Doing sales is easy, right? What the heck is doing sales anyways? So many engineering type brains wonder: why do we pay sales-people? What do they do all day? The answer is: not much… just everything.

Losing at sales is easy. Make a call, get rejected, give up, repeat. Very few sales-people do this… so their day gets FILLED with NOT GIVING UP! That’s what you are paying the sales-person for: persistence.

Winning at sales is hard. I used to sell aerial photographs of peoples homes, now I’ve sold Killer NICs, Stock, and “the Karmaback viral marketing program”… each progressively harder. Here is a few of the things “I do all day”… and your sales-person should be doing too:

1. Manage dozens/hundreds of contacts and leads: reaching out to them via email and phone to set up pitches, keep them updated, etc.
2. Do 2 or 3 hour-long sales calls per day.
3. Research existing leads before each call & email to be up to date on their business and products.
4. Research new leads & beg friends for more leads.
5. Build custom presentations & custom proposals & custom contracts for each lead & prospect.
6. Learn/Practice everything about own company/products
7. Beg for more assets, more demos, etc.
8. ….I could go on and on….

In summary, Winning at Sales takes a Sales Dog! A hound that never gives up, never loses faith, always wags his tail, and works DAMN HARD!