Whose Side Are You On?

As salespeople, professionals and business owners, we tend to believe that we’re working in our prospect’s best interests. If we recommend a product or service to them, it’s because we think it will help them solve their problems or achieve their goals.

And yet we get resistance and pushback from them. So many salespeople have complained to me that prospects won’t even talk to them, when all the salesperson is trying to do is help.

The problem is, prospects have a completely different perception. They see salespeople as working in their own best interests. If a salesperson recommends something, it’s because the salesperson makes money on the deal. Period.

Whose perception is right?

Both.

We see ourselves one way, prospects see us another. And both points of view are valid. Because, really, what good salespeople, professionals and business owners do is find ways to make the prospect’s interests and their own interests coincide, to mutual benefit.

So if you want to boost your sales, first, you need to recognize and appreciate that prospects don’t trust you immediately, no matter how pure of heart you are. And then you need to help your prospects understand that while you are indeed working in your own best interests, you’re also working in theirs.

That means investing the time and effort to build their trust. To help them overcome their fears of being lied to and cheated. (Which very well may have happened to them in the past.) And to instill in them a measure of confidence in you.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but with patience and persistence, you can show your prospects that your interest isn’t the only one you’re working in.