When I was 22 I worked as a telemarketer for a while. I was selling book subscriptions over the phone. I know you are now grinning a bit and thinking “what a lousy and despicable job” and it is probably not entirely without reason that telemarketers have a bad reputation. For me though, it was a chance to learn a bit about selling and at the same time earn some money to finance my studies (and parties :)). Also, at first I actually liked the job: I could offer people a good deal; the books were cheap and mostly pretty popular. Of course the reason why it was a good offer was because people would be signed up for a subscription in the hope they would later buy other books at full price but the good thing was that nobody was bound to this subscription and you could cancel it any time. Later though, the company changed its policies, not only was the price of the introductory offer increased, there was also introduced a minimum amount of books you had to buy at full price. Suddenly I did not like the deal I could offer people and I started to feel bad about selling the books. Of course my job satisfaction as well as my sales plummeted and I soon quit the job.

The lesson to be learned is that for most people selling is not about doing certain selling techniques and then the product or service is sold no matter what it is you are selling. The passion and drive of the seller is important too and at least for me this passion is tied directly to my own view of the product or service; if I do not like the service I provide I feel that selling becomes more an act of persuation than an act of providing a product. To this day the word “sell” still brings forth associations of a slick salesman on a mission to bend the customer to his will. I do not like that view, not only is it against my moral principles; I also think that it is a fundamentally flawed way of interacting with customers. I am not saying you can not sell and earn money with this view of selling but there is no focus on a win-win situation and mostly the seller is better off while the customer is worse off. That is not making the world a better place. I want to make the world a better place, so that is why I have decided to stop using the word “sell” and instead use another term.

The term I have decided to use is “helping people in exchange for money”. If for example you are a used car salesman you are not selling cars, you help people by providing quality cars to those who need a better way to transport themselves. You are the mediator between people in need and services and goods that can fill those needs. What counts is not only how much you sell (help people) but also that you help them by providing the services and goods that are best for their specific needs. Of course selling is about earning money and not just about helping people but there is no shame in expecting money in return for your help. Also I believe that you can earn just as much money by genuinely wanting to help the customers as you can by trying the sort of “tricks” you often see in salestraining, perhaps more.

Another nice feature of the “help-people” perspective is that it makes you focus on how to effectively help people and a prerequisite to effective help is good communication. You will need to intimately know the needs of the customer and therefore establish a better relationship with the customer. The help-people perspective is one that encourages treating customers as real people and not just a potential source of money.

I am sure that I will some day start my own business (which will be my second attempt, the first time was not successful) and I am already looking forward to help a lot of people