The other day I had some extra time and decided to go hang out in a store. As I was aimlessly walking around the store, I started observing the shoppers. I noticed three groups of shoppers:

  • Good: shoppers that are actually buying essential items.
  • Bad: shoppers that are buying unneeded items.
  • Ugly: shoppers that are confused on what to get. They may or may not be purchasing needed items.


As I continued walking, a sales associate stopped me. He desperately tried to convince me to buy something I didn’t need. Of course that irritated me, but it made me think of something interesting...


If there are different types of shoppers, there must also be different types of salesman too. So I started observing and realized that they have a parallel similarity to the shoppers. There can also be salesman that are good, bad, and ugly!


Here I have documented what those types of sales people appear to be. I intend this short study to help you understand what good sales is, and what you should avoid in sales to be amazing!


Now let's jump in! Continue reading to discover my observations.

1 - Good selling: problem solvers


What being a sales person is actually about. Essentially, you are caring for someone by helping them solve their problem. You do this though the following steps: 

  • Step 1: identifying the issue
  • Step 2: consulting on what the best options are available
  • Step 3: providing what is needed to achieve the goals


The moral of the story? You and your customer should always share the same goal! That way, you will always have empathy towards your customers and want them to be set up for success.



No matter what type of customer you end up helping, being this type of salesman will always force you to add authentic value to those around you.


2 - Bad selling: the manipulators


This is not what being a sales person is about. How can you have empathy for someone when you don’t share the same goal? Your customer’s goal may be to just take pictures of her family, but yours is clearly to sell her the most expensive camera available. 


See the conflict when you don’t share the same goal? This is a good example of why some people don’t want to respect sales.

3 - Ugly selling: the ignorant


As the name suggests, these are salesmen that don't know what they are selling. Yet they also seem to be arrogant and talk as if they fully understand what they are selling.


For example, many years ago a salesman convinced my sister to buy an expensive fisheye landscape type camera lens for taking portraits of dogs. To this day, I still don't understand that.


These people aren’t salesmen. They are people that are lazy and just happen to be persuasive. That may sound harsh, but this is another reason why most people don’t like sales.

Conclusion


The idea of this blog post is to show you the different types of salesmen in this world. From now on, you will now know how to identify best practices when selling. Additionally, understanding the bad and the ugly also helps you know what you shouldn’t do.


Strive to be the best salesman you can and your customers will thank you!