{"id":1082,"date":"2020-11-02T15:47:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T15:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:31","slug":"do-you-have-to-love-what-you-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/do-you-have-to-love-what-you-sell\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Have to Love What You Sell?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Selling is about appealing to the head while drawing upon the heart. <\/p>\n

You have to convince your customers<\/a> to make a purchase based on rational arguments. No matter what facts and figures you pull together to make those arguments, however, they need to feel you believe them at your core. <\/p>\n

Though many brands talk about the need for being authentic and genuine in their marketing, sales is the part of the journey where those qualities can make a particularly big difference. <\/p>\n

Customers can tell when a rep isn\u2019t truly in love with their firm\u2019s own products. <\/p>\n

It can come across as a general lack of energy, a tendency to be vague on details or simply talking so excitedly and over-the-top that it raises suspicion. <\/p>\n

When that happens, customers don\u2019t just decline to buy. They often buy elsewhere \u2014 and let others know about what seemed like a con job. <\/p>\n

When you do, in fact, love your product<\/h2>\n

There might be times in your career where loving the product you sell is easy. <\/p>\n

You might have started out as a customer yourself, for example. That means you\u2019ll be able to talk about it with first-hand experience and guide people with insights about key features and ways they could somehow customize the way they use it. <\/p>\n

In other cases, the product might be universally fun to use or possess. It could be a gadget with interesting functionality or something you know you would enjoy, like a house or luxury vehicle. <\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t always mean that racking up sales or crushing your quota will be easy, but it might make you more persuasive when you\u2019re standing in front of customers<\/a>, talking to them on the phone or even composing an email. <\/p>\n

There are inevitably other sales jobs<\/a>, however, where you\u2019re not the target customer, and never will be. The product might be complicated for you to operate yourself. It might not seem to be marketed as successfully as the more similar products from your competitors. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t despair in these situations. There are other kinds of love you can bring to the table as a sales rep, even when the key product you\u2019re selling doesn\u2019t inspire much: <\/p>\n

1. Love the community you\u2019re serving<\/h2>\n

Imagine you\u2019re selling an appliance or tool aimed at single mothers. You might be a married man with no children of your own, so speaking about the product enthusiastically might seem like a stretch.<\/p>\n

Instead, you may find great fulfillment in serving that community of women. You might have been raised by a single mother, or know some whose lives could be positively affected by purchasing the product. <\/p>\n

The same goes for products aimed at those in certain sectors like healthcare, where you know your product could help take care of people or even save lives. <\/p>\n

There are also communities based on roles, like lawyers, whose purchase and use of your product might help them in some way pursue justice for those who need it. <\/p>\n

Love those communities (or learn to love them) and you\u2019ll likely be a more effective rep. <\/p>\n

2. Love the problem you\u2019re solving <\/h2>\n

Assuming they work as advertised, most products and services address one of three things: <\/p>\n