Business Success: The Hard Knox MBA Blog

The Chief Sales Officer

2009-04-16T07:58:00.002-05:00

Like it or not, you will be your company’s Chief Sales Office for as long as you are in business. That’s not to say that you can’t and shouldn’t find qualified sales professionals for your organization. You should. But you should be able to convey to them the same excitement and transfer that same feeling outlined in the last couple of posts. And it doesn’t stop there. You need to transfer that feeling to everyone in your organization. Then, you must transfer that feeling to everyone you encounter in the outside world! The transference of feeling that is required in any successful sale begins and ends with YOU, whether you are directly involved with the sale or not.

Defining Sales

2009-04-15T20:24:00.001-05:00

Zig Ziglar defined sales better than anyone when he said “sales is nothing more than a transference of feeling.” If you are excited about your product because you know it is the best and you know how it can help your prospect and you are able to convey and transfer that feeling, you are going to come away a winner every time. Another great statement by Zig (simply known as “The Man” amongst my brother and me) is that “you can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.” When you combine those two statements you have the formula for business success.

Sales vs Marketing

2009-04-15T19:00:00.002-05:00

Many times you’ll see sales and marketing grouped together, often with a slash in between as if they are interchangeable terms. Don’t think for a minute that they are the same thing. Business success requires sales and marketing to act together and to cooperate with one another, but they are very different. It is a rare person for whom successfully doing both comes easy, so don’t feel like it should be second-nature to you. However, you need to understand and be involved with both to some extent, though you will be more involved with sales in more ways for as long as you are in business.

Business Success Starts with Sales

2009-04-14T21:20:00.001-05:00

"Nothing happens until somebody sells something." This is the truest statement I’ve ever heard and it's a great business lesson. It doesn't matter how great of a product or service you have, if you can't sell it, it's worthless. Sales doesn't have to be hard, though. Zig Ziglar said it best when he said "sales is nothing more than a tranference of feeling." If you're enthusiastic about your product and can transfer that feeling, you'll make the sale and grow your business.

I believe "nothing happens until somebody sells something" was first said by Red Motley, a leading sales trainer of the 40s and 50s. However, if you know of an earlier source please leave a comment below. Thanks!