What are some of the things that come to mind when you hear the word sales? A lot of people may feel triggered by that word as they may have had a bad experience with a salesperson or perhaps a rejection from proposing an offer for a service, product or idea.
With the few full-time jobs in my entire work history, in hindsight, the common denominator in all the work is Sales.
What I have learned over the 20 years of being in sales is that it all starts with relationships. I look back at my early years of being in the workforce and it all started when I had my first job at the age of 14, wrapping Christmas gifts at the mall. Some may say gift wrapping is more of a service and or task and that there’s no sales involved. I would suggest that in anything that we do there is a component of sales to it, no matter what your role or title is.
For example, in gift wrapping, the sales portion would be to create engagement and to draw people to the booth. By wrapping the gifts with excellence and having them out on display before the paying client would pick them up, I had many opportunities to create conversation with folks who were walking by with their bags of unwrapped gifts. What I noticed during that time was the more people I said hi to and smiled, the more engagement I had created and became one of the top gift wrappers on the team who generated the most sales.
Another job I was in for 10 years was working at the farmer’s market. I wore many hats at the beginning working as a cashier, bagging produce, and even fulfilling cleaning duties. A few years in, I was promoted to more responsibilities such as head cashier, supervisor, pricing and display management. Within those ten years, I have learned so much about what it means to sell someone on an idea or product. The ideas I was selling to the staff members was the idea of excellence and high performance, and how that can increase results in all areas of their life. The product I was selling was the produce that was on the shelves. Whether I was selling ideas to the staff or fruits and vegetables to customers, again it all came down to the relationships I had created with each person and most importantly, having them know what’s in it for them (benefits).
You may ask how these relationships started and how long they lasted. I can tell you it always starts with creating safety with each person and being integral. When a client, customer or teammate gets the opportunity to know, like and trust you, they will be open to receiving. How does this process start? By a smile and asking, “How can I help? “and genuinely caring for them. It’s that simple. Asking how we can help and truly listening before offering a recommendation.
May I encourage you to put on the suit of sales and help change the perspective some may have for that word? After facilitating the recent Certified Flourishing Sales Coach™ Training, it was so powerful to hear that another group of salespeople have been empowered to shift industries and how we connect with one another. Sales is no longer a dirty word. Sales is as a word of Service.
We are all either being sold something, or we have something to sell. Why not create a win/win for both you and the client/customer? Remember, relationships first.
About the Author

As the Director of Client of Experience for Certified Flourishing Coaching™, Cynthia is our support system when it comes to project management and administration in the FLCP Community. She also has over two decades of experience working with people and supporting in creating the most ideal results when it comes to complex situations, high performance, and conflict resolution.