Episode #145: What Do You Care About In Sales

I am a buyer too and am constantly amazed by what some people get up to. They are playing that pathetic, failed salesperson game named “process of elimination”. You don’t like that one, well then how about this one, or this one, or this one, ad nauseam? I want “blue” but they keep showing me 50 shades of “pink”.

Let’s improve our approach. There is a great Japanese word, which should be embraced by everyone in sales - kokorogamae (心構え). It can be simply translated as “preparedness” but the Japanese nuance goes much deeper than that. I would prefer to translate it as “getting your heart in order”.

This means to really hark back to your most basic principles of true intention. What we can call True North – the purity of our intention. What is the spark in our heart driving our behavior? Is it the money or is it the serving? Is it what we want or what the client wants? Is this going to be a long-term relationship or a fleeting transaction?

When you have the client’s best interests in mind, you do all the right things. You ask well designed questions to fully understand how best you can serve the buyer. You present your solution in such a way that the buyer feels this is exactly what I have been looking for. You calmly handle any hesitations or concerns from the client, reassuring them that what you have is exactly what they need. And you are confident to ask for the order. That is the sales professional in action.

So let’s ignore the outliers, those riff raff of push sales and come back to the vast majority of salespeople who are not evil, just inept. Change your heart, focus on True North, purify your intentions, show you genuinely care about the buyer’s best interests before your own. If you do that every single time you meet a client, you will have get success in sales and build a power personal brand.