I spent a day with the Sales Master James MacNeil this weekend and what he said resounded so well with my own thoughts that I can't stop quoting him to my clients.

Here's the story:

James was training bank tellers who were on the verge of quitting. These people resented being turned into sales reps by their bank who was rolling out giant and uncomfortable selling initiatives for their front line staff. Prior to the training, James was told he could not change the tellers' minds about selling. He disagreed and challenged them to a test.

Selling versus Serving

The reason why the tellers were up in arms in the first place was because they considered themselves people who were interested in Serving as opposed to being like people in the Sales Department who were interested in Taking. This delineation in their mind was sorely challenged when they admitted to James that almost with every client, they noticed when funds were being mishandled. Time after time, instances would come up where the tellers could have stepped in to introduce a product or a service to help but didn't because-are you ready?-they weren't in SALES.

I'm Not Sales-y

When the mere word of Sales conjures pictures of the devil in your mind and equates to taking something away from people rather than helping them, you will naturally refuse to sell. It's that simple. What James said to the tellers at that point was very powerful. He said: Stop hiding behind the false ethic that Selling is Bad, simply because you're uncomfortable with it and don't know how to do it. Strangely enough, when put this way, they admitted that that's exactly what they had been doing. Refusing to Serve because of their own fears and prejudices. There are so many business owners I meet who are in the same situation.

Hiding

When you hide behind ethic, nobody can win an argument with you. But when you hide behind THIS ethic- that sales is bad, not only do you lose but those you could've helped also lose.

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