Everyone knows the old story of the shoe company that sent two salesmen to Africa to develop the local market.

After a week, one of them pitifully told his bosses that there was no development possible because “nobody wears shoes in Africa”, while the other phoned his bosses and enthusiastically exclaimed that there were remarkable opportunities because “nobody wears shoes in Africa”.

One situation, two visions

I recently met a salesman who feels uncomfortable telling his customers that his products are of excellent quality because, in his opinion, the competition is ahead of him.

Another confided to me that the selling price of his products is downright exorbitant: “the company has a high price philosophy but it’s not worth it, it’s too expensive, we lose a lot of sales because of that”.

A third confessed to me that development possibilities are impossible in his territory: “the competition has cut prices, everyone is sold to them. And we’re picking up the crumbs.

Yeah, it’s not going well, gentlemen! Poor you! It’s not funny what you’re going through! Whoa, wait a minute! Where is your vision, your passion and your conviction? If all products (and services) were easy to sell, people wouldn’t hire salesmen to sell them. There would be a queue to buy them and you would be looking for a job in another field.
Conviction

It is all about conviction, as the story of the shoe salesman in Africa shows. For a salesman to be successful, he must be driven by multiple convictions.

Here are some questions for you, the seller:

1- Your product. Do you believe in your products? Do you know them very well? What are their characteristics and advantages? Do you know your competitors’ products? What sets you apart? What do you have to offer that they do not?

2- Your company. Do you believe in your company, in its reputation, in the competence of the management and in its capacity to innovate?

3- Your team. Do you believe in the after-sales service, delivery and installation team? Do you believe that all these people are also professionals, have the same desire to succeed as you and are there to support you?

4- You. Are you a winner? Do you believe in yourself, your talents, your skills, your personality and your success?

5- Your efforts. Do you believe that when you work hard, you are always rewarded? When we give our clients an unusual service, we psychologically create a debt to ourselves.

6- Your tenacity. Do you believe that being consistent in your efforts, doing the right things over and over again with tenacity, opens the doors to success?

7- The contagion effect. Do you believe that if you take the right actions, with skill, regularity and serenity, there will be a trigger of some kind that will ignite your market?

8- Your success. Where do you see yourself in five years? Still trying to sell something that is not of good quality, too expensive or in a saturated territory? Or reaping the rewards of your efforts because you believe in the potential rather than just seeing the limitations?

Quebec is full of entrepreneurs and visionaries who saw the potential of their market when everyone around them told them it wouldn’t sell. They persevered and it worked. Let’s learn from them!