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Inspiration

Become a believer Pick trustworthy partners

Along with belief in the products and services you
represent, belief in the companies that create, deliver and
onfident. Affable. Knowledgeable. Persistent. support them is essential. Knowing that the companies
Caring. Honest. Attentive. Articulate. These comprising your professional ecosystem will go above and
are some descriptors that come to mind beyond to ensure that your merchant customers receive
C when considering what it takes to succeed as superior products and services strengthens your belief that
a merchant level salesperson. However, these positive the promises you make to your customers will be kept.
attributes will not sustain you unless you also believe in
the products and services you sell. Without that, long-term Experts interviewed for the feature article "Agent playbook
prosperity will likely elude you. "As a sales professional, on vetting partners," The Green Sheet, Sept. 22, 2014, issue
you know it's difficult for most people to sell something 14:09:02, all agreed that "when vetting potential partners
they don't believe in," Paul H. Green wrote in Good from a legal and ethical perspective, MLSs should look
Selling! SM: The Basics. When you believe in your offerings, closely at how the candidates treat their merchants." It's also
objections become far less problematic than they otherwise true that belief in your products and services, and in the
would be, he noted. companies you partner with, leads to enthusiasm, which
is contagious. In "Rules by which to thrive, not dive," The
"If you believe in your product, you will have no problem Green Sheet, Feb. 23, 2009, issue 09:02:02, Jason Felts summed
showing your prospect that your service is worth the price," up why this matters. "If you present your products and
he wrote, adding that it is not a crisis if prospects want to services with enough enthusiasm and convey enough value
check out other companies' offerings and rates. "[E]ncour- to merchants, you will absolutely make sales.
age them to do so," he wrote. "Then, focus on the value of
your products or services." Dale S. Laszig agreed in her arti-
cle "It's not what you say," The Green Sheet, Sept. 23, 2013, is-
sue 13:09:02. "We need to believe in ourselves, our products
and services, and the value that we bring to the merchant
community," she wrote. Kate Gillespie, President and CEO

Don't sell a lie
Keynote speaker, trainer and coach Brent
Kelly went so far as to state in a blog post
on his website that without belief, "what
you are selling is a lie." He went on to
say that it's easy to spot salespeople who
lack belief in what they're selling by ob-
serving them and asking whether they
are:
• Talking or listening
• Genuinely excited about the prod-
uct or service
• Helping or selling

"Those with belief in their product or
service don't need to hard sell or be
pushy," Kelly added. "They know what
they have to offer will provide value
for the right prospect. I understand that
some salespeople are put into difficult
situations and need to make money to
survive, but without true belief in what
you are selling, you are just wasting
time."

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