What’s Your Sales Truth?

What’s your sales truth?

You can’t spend a minute on LinkedIn or some sales forum without encountering people claiming to be the sole possessors of previously unknown sales secrets, sales truths and sales hacks that have the power to transform your life.

What these “truths” have in common is that they all claim to provide magical results. 10X anyone?

Is there only one true way to sell?

No.

Does anyone possess “hidden secrets” of sales?

No.

Are there universal divine truths in sales that haven’t been revealed to the rest of us?

God, no.

Don’t get sucked into this trap.

There’s even been recent debates on LinkedIn about whether members should call BS on people who are giving out what they consider to be objectively bad advice. Which is an objectively bad idea.

Here’s why: each of you has to develop your own sales truth.

I have my own sales truths.

I’ve developed these over a successful 43 year career and they are the sum of my experiences plus the lessons I’ve absorbed from mentors, training, books and sales experts.

My methods work for me. And, through my books, blogs and podcasts, they are working for sellers and sales teams around the world.

However, I’ll be the first to admit that my sales truths won’t work for everyone. And, I’m okay with that. That’s how it should be.

It’s important that you, as a seller, be a discerning consumer of sales advice. You have to be open to new ideas, and a bit of a skeptic, to find the advice, the perspectives, the principles and the methods that will work for you.

Be very, very careful with experts who claim to be in singular possession of sales “truths.” Or “sales secrets.” Such things don’t exist. (If they did, I’d be the first in line to learn what they were.)

Instead, be curious. Read widely. Listen to a lot of podcasts. Watch a lot of videos. Talk to a lot of experts. Engage a mentor.

Pick and choose from the wide variety of available sales advice those methods and skills that you believe will work for you.

Experiment with them. Test them in battle. Make continuous changes to improve your results. Test them again.

These will become your personal sales truths.

Nurture them wisely. And, don’t be afraid to share them.

Anyone who has ever closed an order with a customer, has learned something about their own sales truth. Perhaps your insight could help a fellow seller find theirs.

Follow Andy on LinkedIn.