Dear John,

We are all in sales. If we are not selling a product or service, we are selling ideas and we use whatever sales skills we have to influence others.

Not recognizing this is one of the biggest mistakes a business owner or “non salesperson” can make. Not only does it cost you money, but it also costs your lost customers an incredible amount of pain.

I learned this lesson as a young man when I was traveling with my dad, Zig Ziglar. Dad was speaking at an event and my job was to sell the books and cassette tape programs at the back of the room. The session was an evening session and we finished up about 10:00 pm. On the way back to the hotel, Dad suggested we get a bite to eat since we had worked through dinner. We saw a Denny’s on the side of the highway and pulled in.

It was about 11:00 on a Friday night when we were seated. The only thing I was focused on was getting a bite to eat. A nice lady, about 70 years old, came over to take our drink order. As she walked away Dad leaned closer to me and said,

“Son, what a shame. A salesman didn’t do his job.”

I had no clue what Dad was referring to. “Dad, what do you mean, a salesman didn’t do his job?”

“Son, it’s close to midnight on Friday night. Do you think that nice 70-year-old lady is working here because she wants to?”

I shook my head no.

“Son, I can almost guarantee you that 30 or 40 years ago an insurance salesman sat down with that lady and her husband to talk about life insurance, and the fact that she is working here now is proof he didn’t make the sale.”

Wow. That was the first time I realized how important making a sale was to the prospect! If your product or service solves a problem and delivers value you have a moral obligation to be the best salesperson you can be. (If it doesn’t, find something else!) If you don’t make the sale, then your prospect will likely end up purchasing from someone with less integrity than you, or worse, end up in a great deal of pain just like our waitress at Denny’s.

If your ideas, products, or services solve problems and prevent pain, you have a moral obligation to become the best salesperson possible!

Choose To Win!

Tom

P.s. My favorite sales program of Dad’s is Secrets of Closing the Sale - you might like it - https://www.ziglar.com/product/secrets-of-closing-the-sale-mp3/