How to change your mind before you change minds?

Arishma Singh looks at sales from a fresh angle. While most of us think of sales as just techniques and meeting targets, Singh argues that there's a deeper side to it: the mindset. Top athletes and artists excel not just because of their skills, but because they have the right mindset. Singh wants readers to see this side of sales and change how they view themselves in the process. If you've ever felt like you're more than just a sales target, this book is for you.

Singh also shares her THRIVE methodology, which she made to help salespeople find lasting success. She also talks about the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) or Tapping, a tool she uses daily. It's all about growing respect for yourself and earning respect from others.

The main point? If you change how you think, you'll see better results in sales.

Amazon Author's Website Author's Amazon Page

Excerpt from The Respected Salesperson © Copyright 2023 Arishma Singh

Chapter One – Where’s the respect?

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

–Lao Tzu

When someone tells you, ‘Don’t be salesy!’, it almost feels like they are throwing a swear word at you.

But why is this so?

One of the authors who explained it best is Daniel Pink. In his book To Sell is Human, he states that:

While we understand that sales involves prospecting, pitching, per- suading, challenging and cajoling, which are important facets of any human transaction, yet, the human that is seen as performing a sales function is often described to be doing something icky, dodgy, slippery, trickery, or worse, deceitful. Over the years, people in sales have often been seen as intellectual lightweights and dodgy charac- ters. Even though 9% of us work in direct sales, some view it as the white-collar equivalent of cleaning toilets. The truth is, however, we are all involved in sales.

The reality is that sales is a highly emotional calling. It is a demanding, high-stress, high-pressure, and anxiety-triggering job. After all, sales professionals must persist through rejections and are required to pick themselves up with a smile on their face – day after day! And without sales, an organisation cannot prosper.

Yet, where is the respect for sales people?

I have to confess that I did not have respect for my entry into a career as a sales professional, when I first ‘fell’ into it during the Global Financial Crisis. I did not recognise the value of this role because I did not associate it with the expensive degree I was holding, nor was it what my parents had hoped for me to become, which was a lawyer. I humbly recognise now after two decades of being in the corporate world, that the sales profession has provided me with immense growth, professional experiences, travel abroad, connections with senior stake- holders at multinational corporations, leadership opportunities – and not to forget crazy commissions!

Does anyone ever say, ‘When I grow up, I will get into sales?’ Unless your parents have been successful in sales, it is rare to meet people who knew they always wanted to be in sales. The majority just fell into sales.

So I invite you to be upfront and honest: what do you think of your job title?

If you tell somebody you’re a doctor, you command automatic respect.

But if you tell them you’re a salesperson…

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

–Eleanor Roosevelt

Imagine that you are at a BBQ and have the opportunity to meet a group of new people. Somebody you don’t recognise walks up to you and the standard ‘getting to know you’ conversation starts. Inevitably, the question about what you do for a living will come up.

Do you immediately say ‘sales’?

Or do you instead say something along the lines of ‘I’m an Account Relationship Manager with…’ or ‘I work for Company XYZ…’?

Now, think back to some of the conversations you’ve had with friends about your work. What did they say when you told them you work in sales? At best, you might have gotten a nod and some small talk. But the more common response is to be hit with insults likening you to a sleazy used car salesperson, proving that salespeople do not have a good reputation.

Bazza L, a senior and experienced sales manager from a national media organisation, mentioned that even within an organisation that backs sales people, there is still animosity between sales and other departments. It’s simply because in that company, salespeople get more limelight and benefits, such as Friday afternoon celebrations where people from sales get kudos or vouchers and wins. But those who produce or service the product resent those in sales, referring to them as ‘those lazy bastards’.

Featured on Joelbooks