Personal Selling - There's a Salesman in Everyone of Us

"I hate having quotas, that's why I'm in marketing and not with the sales team." I distinctly remember my coworker from my previous employer saying this while I was just starting with the company. I can recall how we use the term "sales" as something we will never do as marketers. We were in the marketing services and we handle all consumer events for this company (that I shall not name). We had this notion that we were not sales people and our job was to mount an event that will give an 'opportunity' for the sales team to sell and meet their quotas. I used to think that, until I learned more about personal selling.

This term at grad school, one of my majors is Personal Selling. I have one full term discussing how to be an effective sales person. Going through each class, I suddenly realized that personal selling is not limited to people with a career in sales, but it encompasses everything. From how we look to how we communicate with people, we are actually selling ourselves. But the fact is that not everyone is aware they are doing it. Most people believe it's just talking to anyone, and making them believe their product is better than their competitors.

But let's take it further.

According to Kotler, Personal Selling involves interpersonal interactions between salespeople and individual customers. And personal selling has three distinctive qualities: (1) personal confrontation (2) cultivation and (3) response.

Not only that, there is an actual science when doing personal selling. There are steps that need to be done in order to become effective in selling. I might do a blow-by-blow account of these steps at another blog post but for now, I leave you with this thought.

I grew up with a mom who sells books for a living. I really didn't get it before how she managed to sell a lot and knows who to sell it to. Even up to now (she's turning 60 this June by the way), the way she talks to people is like listening to a saleslady at the mall persuading her customers to buy her product. Even if it's just a small chit chat or catching up, she makes it sound like they need to close a deal at the end of the conversation. It's just simply amazing. I'll tell you more about her as we continue this series of Personal Selling.

So... don't forget. There's a salesman in everyone of us. :)