Conviction is a critical dimension of selling. A good salesperson, has a thorough knowledge of the product/service, has come to admire it, and conveys that admiration to the prospective buyer. Knowledge begets genuine interest... Interest gives birth to conviction... and Conviction sells.
I am currently involved in a project that has led to considerable research into sales history. During the mid to late 19th century, one of the most common selling figures on the landscape was the book agent. A book agent was hired by a book publisher to sell books by subscription, door-to-door. A book agent would "canvass" an entire territory, make their presentations, and take orders for delivery of their book on a future date. John James Audubon sold Birds of North America this way. Tycoon Jay Gould, writer Bret Harte, and President Rutherford B. Hayes all peddled books in their youth.
As part of my research project I have come across sales manuals that would assist the book agent in their selling skills. Please take a moment to browse the following excerpt from a manual that was published in 1885:
"A man to sell books must be a man of one idea. He must read and think of his book until he begins to feel a sort of inspiration toward that particular book, and until he loves to talk about it, and makes himself think it has no equal in the English language. Then he will find means to make others think the same. I cannot pass this point without putting double stress on this great and never-failing lever to success. It increases your sales in a geometrical progression. if you work yourself up to a kind of inspiration, it is such a stimulus that the agent feels no fatigue, and snow, rain or mud are only turned into a means of getting orders."
(Note: This excerpt refers to "men", yet in the 1880 census there were 53,500 salespeople accounted for...with 2,500 of them being female book agents.)
Back to my original point...Conviction sells. When you read the passage above, don't you find it interesting to consider the similarities and challenges experienced by the door-to-door book agent of 120 years ago, as compared to the salesperson of today?
One of my observations is that a significant number of financial advisors today...lack conviction in the products/services that they are representing. This may be a function of the nature of the services themselves, e.g. financial planning, asset allocation, etc., which can lack a sense of underlying urgency. On the other hand, authors like Nick Murray would vehemently disagree (which he is rather proficient at) with my statement that "financial planning lacks urgency." Indeed, in The New Financial Advisor, Murray builds a cogent argument that:
- It is human nature itself which renders people incapable of succeeding on their own,
- With the dense, and constantly shifting complexities of the financial planning process, people simply cannot do it themselves,
- Advisors must do it for, and with, them.
Either way, conviction is, quite possibly, the single most important factor in selling. Conviction convinces. Uncertainty undermines. Conviction sells.
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