Selling Means Helping

Like most of life’s experiences, the cause of one of my early sales successes didn’t register with me until long after it was over. But once it did, I found it a theme worth using again and again in training conferences I’ve led and in books and articles I’ve written.

Selling is a helping profession, and those who think it isn’t may never enjoy either the profession or success in it. I took a job selling furniture in a retail store upon my return from service in World War II. As the youngest salesman on the floor, I became quite accustomed to having the old hands turn over their “nuisance” traffic to me. They, of course, didn’t want to tie up their valuable time on some trivial sale when the next prospect in the door might want some big ticket item.

So it was one afternoon: A lady came in, had a brief exchange with another salesman, and I got stuck helping her. The moment she told me what she wanted, I recognized the scenario. “I’m looking for some carpet tacks,” she said. Since we had a small counter at the rear of the store where we stocked odds and ends – tacks, curtain rods, drapery fixtures and so on – we went back there to get her some tacks.

“What are you going to use these for?” I asked. She told me that the dust underliner on her sofa was loose, and she just wanted to put it back in place. “Then what you want are upholstery tacks,” I said. “Let me show you.” Then I suggested to her that while she was at it, she might also want to tighten up the webbing that supported the springs. She didn’t understand what I was saying, so I tipped a couch on its back and showed her what to do. The couch was attractive, and once it was back in place, we had a few minutes of conversation about it… its fabric and style and quality of construction.

She had other errands to run, so she paid for the tacks, thanked me for the advice, and left. When I returned to the sales desk, I was jokingly congratulated by the other salesmaen for having pulled off a big sale.

That might well have been the end of the story, but it wasn’t. That evening, she came in with her husband, asked for me and bought the couch. And then they proceeded to look at other pieces. I ended with a substantial sale, much to the envy and dismay of the guy who had dumped her on me to start with.

Later, as an account executive in an advertising agency, I found that when I spent time helping a client he or she spent money with me. Salespeople help prospects understand the product, help people to use the product properly, help them know how to take care of it and get the most good out of it.

It sounds so simple…and is. Why is it that I meet so many salespeople who fail to understand that they are in a helping profession?