"Strictly Sales" is written by the faculty of the Dynamics of Selling program. This month's column is from David Connolly, ARM.
VINCE Lombardi was fond of saying, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," and, "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." In the sales profession, much ado is made of particular selling skills: strategic positioning, mirroring and matching, and handling objections, for example. We focus less often on a common personality trait of top producers: They hate to lose. Successful salespeople will tell you they hate to lose as much as they love to win.
When I was a teenager, I started working with my father, who owned a successful construction firm. My dad was a great salesman. When he met with a prospective customer, more often than not he walked out of the meeting happy, with an order in hand. What I remember most, however, is his attitude when he lost. It was no fun driving back to the shop on those occasions. He would talk to himself the rest of the day, and not in a pleasant tone. He simply hated to lose.
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