I’ve seen a lot of posts lately about sales, with many questions revolving around how to make the perfect sales pitch in either a B2C or B2B context. Based on my prior experience, I felt it’d be relevant to now throw my two cents into the bucket with a series of posts on the topic.

Background

Most people don’t know I worked as a high-end salon shoe salesman for 1.5yrs at Nordstrom earlier this decade before moving to NYC. Starting out, I was way behind the average salesperson in terms of their learning curve:

• I had never sold anything in my life
• I knew nothing about salon shoes (Weitzman, Ferragamo, Paul Green, etc)
• When I was hired, I actually had to ask my mother “what is a salon shoe?”
• I had no idea salon shoe salesman were the most aggressive pool of sharks there could be in any sales context-period

In spite of those shortcomings, I ended up doing very well over the course of my tenure at the company- I sold more than $600K in shoes within that short span- unprecedented as a first year salesman at the company. By the way, this was as a 20 year old college student, taking an 18 credit course load, and holding a 3.85 GPA in 3 separate majors.

Why is Selling So Hard?

For most, selling a product or service in either a B2C or B2B context is just too tough of a job. There’s a lengthy sales process, numerous challenges in getting to a decision maker, long hours, etc. As a result, a cultish following has ensued around those who claim to have the keys/tricks/etc for how to sell.

Many believe top sellers (regardless of vertical) hold some sort of magical black book, and that it’s this which makes their numbers skyrocket 60%-200% above their next closest counterpart. Guess what?

Just like anything else in sales- it’s simply a numbers game. But what many do in fact fail to realize is the top sellers encompass two vital qualities which ultimately lead to their profound successes:

1. They are confident and unequivocally believe in themselves and their process
2. They are optimization freaks

It’s crucial to understand, in the world of a top salesperson- every single movement, word, phrase, close toward the sale and follow-up is optimally scripted for a sale (both in the long and short-term). Confidence in themselves, in their process, and in understanding what must be optimized are the crucial levers which determine the viability and scalability of the salesperson’s rolodex.