Stylin' in Sales

Welcome

So you’re thinking of pursuing a serious career in one of the most high-stake and biggest commitment fields possible? Have you thought of the insane amount of time you will spend giving the job everything you have? Have you thought of the unbelievably high risks that will be on the line as you step up and give important presentations in front of large audiences? Can you even comprehend the stress levels you will undertake as you eat, sleep, and dream sales all day and night for the rest of your life? If you have, then welcome. Corporate sales is not only one of the most intense careers but it’s also one of the most rewarding and exhilarating careers that you could possibly attempt to endure. However, there is an extremely thin line that separates an ordinary salesman from an outstanding salesman. That line is called communication.

It takes a special type of person to become elite in the corporate sales world. You see, many people believe that salesmen simply have to be arrogant, aggressive and demanding so that they come off as powerful and persuasive. However, any real salesman would know that it is quite the contrary. Being aggressive and relentless isn’t necessarily the formula to persuasiveness. Understanding the desires and  the needs of a buyer is an art, and that understanding is crucial. Knowing how to meet their needs and provide exceptional emotional value to the buyer is also essential. Yet, the thing that is absolutely imperative is the ability to express an idea in a way so that the customer feels and sees exactly how perfect the idea really is and how they will benefit from making the purchase. If a salesman can master the art of rhetoric and truly understand the necessity of persuasion then they can become extremely successful in the corporate sales field. More specifically, if they can understand the way style plays into communication they can become exceptionally explosive.

                                              Prepare Yourself

In order to fully understand the ins and outs of quality communication and style, one must go through a rigorous workload from the start. Early in their college career, students will take on a substantially difficult amount of schoolwork as they take the “weed-out” classes like accounting, finance, economics, and marketing with thousands of other students. Not to mention, they will have to accustom themselves to having no summer breaks; finance students will need to get internships with different corporations in order to get their foot in the door. Students will have to learn everything they can from their superiors and meet as many new people as possible to open up their networking skills. Networking and communication are extremely correlated. The more people you can positively communicate with means the more potential clients and business partners you can obtain. These internships are spectacular examples of the importance of communication because if a salesman doesn’t know anyone, he is no longer a salesman. Sales are all about knowing as many people as possible and networking to the point where everyone knows, trusts, and loves you. Not to mention, one of the most important concepts that the students will master is the art of developing their sales “style”.

We know that when rhetoric is discussed, there are five basic canons: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Anyone who has made a sale in their life knows that when it all comes down to it, it’s the virtues of “style” that make a sales executive successful. Here is an example:

John is a new college graduate who is finally about to give his first corporate sales pitch. He gets up to present himself in front of about fifteen potential clients who are trying to determine if they want to invest $450,000 into the firm. John begins confidently, but uses somewhat poor grammar as he attempts to sound intelligent. Everyone notices but nothing is said, because it is a professional setting. He proceeds to get to the point but is very ambiguous in doing so. He doesn’t explain very clearly what the long term goals are. He also doesn’t provide much convincing evidence as to how the goals will be accomplished. Many hands are raised in question and the control of the presentation is starting to flow to the audience. As he concludes he can feel the pressure and finishes without any confidence and without a “big finish”.

If you don’t quickly begin to study and scrutinize the virtues of style, you too will be like John on your first sales pitch. The lack of decorum, clarity, evidence, delivery, and correctness were all key factors to a terrific sales presentation that were missing. When someone is planning on investing their own money into an idea, they want to feel comforted with the knowledge that their money will be in great hands and even be multiplied. Once you realize that what they truly want is comfort, you can control the sale as you speak clearly and correctly, deliver with confidence, engage the audience, and of course persuasively display that their money is in great hands.

                                             Historic Examples

Back in the 1950’s, something unbelievably spectacular happened to the United States. As many other countries experienced awful economic blows and downfalls directly following World War II, the United States had tremendous success as their overall economy reached an increase of 37%. Many people accredited the success to President Eisenhower who appeared to have played a big role in the economic success as he lowered taxes and made adjustments to budgets. However, there may be one factor that has been widely overlooked. Perhaps one of the reasons that the economy went soaring in the United States is because there were instantly newfound needs that the American people had due to the fact that their country just went to war. When people have needs, it opens up a variety of windows and opportunities for corporate sales that we can’t even comprehend. Then, when salesmen can find a way to create a product that has value to a customer and communicate that overall value, they begin to have tremendous success. Salesmen all throughout the country created products that were valuable in the eyes of Americans. They used the virtues of style pristinely and the entire business world seized the moment while demonstrating great communication skills to sell stocks, products, and real estate to send the economy skyrocketing.

Even traced back to the ancient Greek civilization we can see similar success patterns in sales and rhetoric. The Greeks noticed specific problems that arose in their daily lives and they decided to come up with ideas and sell those ideas amongst their peers. For example, some Greek women noticed the distinct body odor that each person would give off. So, they decided to create a solution; in other words, perfume. They took their ideas and showed other women how great the perfume worked as well as the benefits that came from utilizing the fine perfumeries. Greek women not only ended up selling it to other Greeks, but also to other civilizations. This was one of the most basic, textbook selling strategies possible. If we look closely, we can see that the virtues of style were present in their selling. They were extremely clear as they identified a basic need. Then, they provided tangible evidence that the product smelled great and would mask bad odors. To conclude their sales they would’ve had to deliver the idea with a great incentive. 

Nowadays, the United States’ economy could benefit greatly by mimicking these same simple communication tactics used in ancient Greece. On top of that, the timing is perfect because we too are in very humble circumstances similar to those following World War II. The economy is simply waiting for good ideas to be brought forth and sold through magnificent styles of rhetoric. So again, I welcome you. If you think you can develop the rhetorical style to have what it takes to make billions in this dog-eat-dog world, it’s time to wake up. The sales world waits for nobody. 

Works Cited:

1) Scheidel, Walter, Ian Morris, and Richard P. Saller, eds. The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (2008) 

2) Shmoop Editorial Team. "Economy in World War II: Home Front." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.