For over three years now, I write and describe my thoughts on the world of sales! They are and I say (with many claims) the key to success in sales.

Far from wanting to preach a “truth” absolutely my approach is intended as a “finding” personally known facts, thoughts (I think) and observations based on my experiences both professional and personal life. The heart and essence of success in sales [and everything] in the long run is about more than one word: trust.

“I trust you!”

“I trust you” is a phrase pure and innocent. It implies a sense of faith … (no religious connotation), the “I-don’t-know-not-all-but-I-will-you-believe” … I trust you! If that trust is given to one side “engagement” in front, one who receives it is “responsible” it must be worthy. In other words, if someone trusts me, if I deserved his trust, I will have to prove he was right to trust me. A business relationship is not about winning a single contract, it is a concrete base on which we will build hundreds of cases, thousands of contracts! For in a genuine relationship of trust and proven, there is another dimension to the possibilities limitless exponentially: the references!
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Attention… Interest… Decision… Action… Wait, don’t leave me yet. I know, you’ve heard this one before but it’s got a flaw—and the textbooks got it right—the advertising textbooks.

The best advertising has several critical objectives to be considered in reaching the end result—increased sales. William Arens, author of the textbook Contemporary Advertising, opens his book with a quote from Albert Lasker (according to Arens, Lasker is “generally regarded as the father of modern advertising”) who defined advertising in the 19th century as “salesmanship in print, driven by a reason why.” I like this definition because it recognizes sales as the driving mission (keep in mind, print was the only thing around at the time). Arens, on the other hand, decided he’d articulate the working definition of advertising for his book as, “the non personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods and services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media.”…Yeah…whatever. Personally, I think Arens missed the selling message (as do many of the advertising & marketing people in the world—see Selling everyone on the bottom line) but where he misses it here, he makes up for it by revamping the classic sales acronym AIDA—although I’m not sure he knows it.
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Cliched phrases turn buyers off

I think it’s entirely reasonable to suggest that anyone who uses the following phrases in their sales or marketing materials should be shot :

• “In today’s competitive marketplace”
• “In today’s global marketplace”

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