Do you want to sell or do you find yourself needing to sell instead? Learn how to avoid one of the most common mistakes in selling.

Salespeople often find themselves hoping and praying and sometimes even begging for the opportunity to “Just show what I can do for you” and maybe make a sale. The salesperson may be thinking, “I really need this sale so I hope I get this! After all, I have bills to pay.” Do you think your client is going to be able to pick up on this? Of course they are. Salespeople often present themselves as if they need to make the sale.

Instead, its much more effective to have the mindset of wanting to make the sale simply because it is going to benefit the customer’s life and business. This means not making selling about YOU and about how much you can benefit but how much you can assist the customer in benefiting from what you have to offer. The fact is, hungry salespeople scare away the meal. If you can shift to becoming truly sincere and caring as opposed to hungry and desperate, you will attract even more customers towards you.

Create a reserve (having more of something than you actually need in order to survive, such as money, space, time, satisfaction, etc.) so that you will have the ability to go into a sales call “Coming from” a different place with a different attitude. Now, you actually want to sell because of the benefits the customer will derive, as opposed to needing to sell to serve your own desires. Otherwise, your customers will get turned of and will go elsewhere.

Photo credit: Paresh Gajria