I Can Sell Anything to Anybody. But I Won’t.
There’s a Difference Between Selling and Professional Selling
I Can Sell Anything to Anybody. But I Won’t.
There’s a Difference Between Selling and Professional Selling
I can sell anything to anybody, including your stupid pen.
Do you believe me?
Want me to prove it?
Here’s the truth: I could never prove it because I would never attempt it.
I don’t believe in selling anything to anybody.
Not everything is right for everybody.
That may sound strange coming from someone who has spent much of his career in sales, sales leadership, coaching, and enablement. But I believe great selling begins with recognizing a simple truth:
A sale should create mutual benefit between the buyer and the seller.
If what you’re selling isn’t improving, fixing, building, securing, future-proofing, or otherwise adding value to the buyer’s world, then maybe the sale shouldn’t be made.
I’m Not Selling Ice to an Eskimo
We’ve all heard some variation of the old sales clichés:
“He could sell ice to an Eskimo.”
“She could sell water to a whale.”
Those statements are typically intended as compliments. They describe someone as an extraordinarily persuasive salesperson.
I’ve never viewed them that way.
If someone doesn’t need what you’re selling, convincing them to buy it anyway isn’t necessarily evidence of exceptional sales ability. At some point, persuasion without value becomes manipulation.
That isn’t the kind of salesperson I have ever wanted to be.
And it certainly isn’t the kind of salesperson I want to develop.
A Solution Has to Solve Something
My definition of sales is fairly straightforward:
Sales is the process of helping someone purchase a solution.
But there’s an important word in that sentence: solution.
For something to be a solution, it has to solve something.
That “something” doesn’t necessarily have to be a problem or pain. It could be an objective, opportunity, or aspiration.
A company may want to increase revenue.
A leader may want greater productivity.
A sales organization may want higher win rates.
A customer may want to reduce risk, improve efficiency, strengthen security, create a better experience, or prepare for future growth.
None of those necessarily begins with something being “broken.”
The opportunity for a sales professional is to understand what the buyer wants to change and why that change matters.
Why Do People Buy?
Throughout my sales career, and when training and coaching salespeople, I’ve operated with a simple belief:
There are two fundamental reasons anyone buys anything: they have a desire to gain something or a fear of losing something.
They are either moving toward a desired outcome or moving away from an undesirable one.
Sometimes both are happening simultaneously.
In Insight Selling, Mike Schultz and John Doerr describe a similar dynamic through the concepts of aspirations and afflictions.
I’ve always appreciated that distinction because great sales professionals learn to uncover both.
What does the buyer want to achieve, improve, build, or become?
What do they want to fix, prevent, protect, reduce, or avoid?
Those questions fundamentally change the nature of a sales conversation.
Seek Before You Sell
Sometimes buyers already understand their afflictions and aspirations. The salesperson’s job is to uncover them through thoughtful questioning, active listening, and genuine curiosity.
Other times, the buyer may not fully recognize an issue or opportunity.
That is where approaches such as Challenger selling can become particularly powerful.
A salesperson can enter a conversation with knowledge about the customer’s industry, business, competitors, or market and introduce an insight that causes the buyer to think differently.
Perhaps there is a risk they haven’t considered.
Perhaps there is an opportunity they haven’t recognized.
Perhaps the status quo is costing them more than they realize.
The seller is still seeking a problem or opportunity. The difference is that instead of simply asking the buyer to identify it, the salesperson brings insight to the conversation that helps the buyer see something differently.
That’s professional selling.
Stop Asking, “How Do I Sell Them This?”
This is where I believe sales organizations can sometimes get themselves into trouble.
The objective becomes:
“How do we sell them this?”
I believe the better question is:
“Can what we offer genuinely help them accomplish something that matters?”
Those are very different questions.
The first begins with the product.
The second begins with the buyer.
That’s also why I’m not a fan of organizations that expect sellers to push every product, every service, and every add-on simply because the company created it.
Should salespeople understand every tool in their toolbox?
Absolutely.
Should they know how those tools create value, what problems they solve, and which buyers might benefit from them?
Absolutely.
But should every tool be forced into every sales conversation simply because it exists?
Absolutely not.
The salesperson’s responsibility isn’t to empty the toolbox onto the customer’s desk.
It’s to understand what the customer is trying to accomplish and determine which tools, if any, can help.
Sometimes the professional answer should be:
You don’t need this.
There is tremendous credibility in being willing to say that.
Problem Seekers and Problem Solvers
My personal definition of a salesperson is simple:
A salesperson is a problem seeker and problem solver on behalf of the buyer.
And again, “problem” shouldn’t automatically be interpreted negatively.
Sometimes you’re seeking an affliction.
Sometimes you’re seeking an aspiration.
Sometimes you’re helping buyers recognize something they haven’t considered.
Sometimes you’re validating something they already know.
And sometimes, after doing all of that work, you discover that what you sell simply isn’t the right solution.
That’s okay.
Find the affliction.
Understand the aspiration.
Determine whether you can help.
And if you can’t, have the integrity to say so.
Walking away from the wrong sale doesn’t make someone a weaker salesperson.
In my view, it makes them a professional.
Sales Professional or Person in the Profession of Sales?
That brings me back to the stupid pen.
Could I convince someone to buy it?
Maybe.
But that’s not the question I’m interested in answering.
I want to know:
Why would you need the pen?
What does having it allow you to accomplish?
What happens if you don’t have it?
Is this particular pen actually right for you?
Is there a better alternative?
And ultimately, would buying it leave you better off than you were before we met?
If the answer is yes, now we have something worth discussing.
If the answer is no, keep your money.
Because there is a difference between a sales professional and a person in the profession of sales.
They are not the same.
One is focused primarily on making the sale.
The other is focused on creating enough value that a sale deserves to be made.
Which one are you?