An Introduction to
Selling at Mastery
By Jim Masson
Author of
Getting Paid is Good!!
$$$
copyright 2012, Jim Masson
Smashwords Edition
all rights reserved
This ebook is licensed for your personal use only.
It may not be altered or recopied
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However,
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as sincerely hope you will,
please direct them to download their own free copy
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Thank You.
$$$
Cover design by:
Gianni Grando
In-Print Graphic Design and Printing
Nanaimo B.C. Canada
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Forward
Chapter 1: Defining a Master Professional Salesperson.
Chapter 2: W hat the role of a Master Professional Salesperson is
and What the Role is Not.
Chapter 3: Who puts up the most obstacles to the sale?

first of many, and he discovered that getting paid for his efforts was indeed,
very, very good!
After attending Algonquin College Business Campus in Ottawa, Canada's
capital, he had a successful selling career with large automotive dealerships
there, before relocating with his wife Wanda to Vancouver, British Columbia,
in the early 1980s. There, Jim partnered for almost ten years in an
automotive services business.
After selling his interest in that business, Jim resumed his automotive career
as Sales Manager and Sales Trainer with major automobile dealerships that
achieved new levels of sales and customer satisfaction success. A number of
sales people who he helped train have become nationally recognized as
Sales Leaders and Sales Masters and several were promoted to Sales
Management positions themselves.
Jim has always recognized the tremendous need for professionalism in the
selling industry and affordable training in all areas of selling and customer
service. In order to share his extensive experience and success with those
pursuing a career in the selling profession, Jim initially wrote his book,
"Getting Paid is Good!!'' He has also offered live sales training seminars to
both sales novices and seasoned pros. through school board sponsored
Continuing Education classes on Vancouver Island, where he and Wanda
make their home
Now, he is very pleased to present to you, “An introduction to Selling at
Mastery”along with a link to “Selling at Mastery” These powerful ebooks are
a compilation of all the material that was initially presented over forty hours in
his live, bootcamp style seminar presentations, plus additional strategies,
tools and concepts.
These ebooks have one defining purpose. That is, to provide effective and
affordable Profession Development Training for individuals, business owners
and sales managers, wishing to either upgrade their own selling skills or to
train salespeople for a better future by learning how to sell as a master

practice just as soon as you can. Do you remember that old expression, “Use
it or lose it”?
>>> Do yourself a favor; reread this ebook often. This will help to
permanently drive the points deep into your subconscious where they will
serve you as productive habits.
While I initially developed my material, it was primarily to train and coach
salespeople who work either on commission, partly on commission or who
strive for production bonuses. However, there are so many concepts, tools
and strategies that will also be of tremendous help to those working for hourly
wages in retail settings or in service sectors, even restaurant servers who are
looking to be the best they can be and get promoted in their chosen field. In
fact, I believe some of the life skill concepts shared here and in Selling at
Mastery will be of significant benefit to most people who read them. OK, let’s
get started.
$$$
Chapter 1
Defining a Master Professional Salesperson
The need for really good and very affordable sales training is enormous in the
selling field today.” Why did I make that statement? I had too, because the
proof is all around us. It is the reason I have chosen to write the “Selling at
Mastery” material. The selling profession is badly broken right now.
Business, salespeople and consumers are all paying the price for this.
Hopefully, I can help the salespeople and sales managers work at a much
more professional level. If these concepts and tools make any difference for
them, everyone, including the customers will win in a big way.
Generally, the overall perception of salespeople in today’s marketplace is
actually a nasty extremely one. Don’t you agree? We, as salespeople, are
rated by society, as a profession at the bottom of the heap. We rank right
there with corrupt politicians, lawyers, crooked auto mechanics and members
of the so called oldest profession. You know who I mean.

computer. Maybe someone helped you plan your perfect vacation or created
a nice dining experience. If they did a masterful job, chances are that you
never looked at them as a stereotypical salesperson, did you?
My point is simply this, in spite of all the bad salespeople out there, there are
plenty of average ones and there are some truly masterful ones. So, if you
choose to sell for a living, you can also choose where you will fit in to the
industry. You can be the masterful salesperson,or you can settle for just
being the average. Or, you might even decide to be the nasty stereotypical
salesperson. It is absolutely a matter of personal choice.
Here is a critical marketplace fact. When a consumer encounters a bad
salesperson, he or she might buy one time, but then they will generally shun
that salesperson and the organization the salesperson works for in the future.
This is because he customer sees the salesperson and the organization as
being one and the same.
The flip side is, when consumers find a great salesperson, they will buy and
they will generally buy again and again from the salesperson and the
organization that the salesperson works for. Because, they too are seen as
being one and the same! Isn't that true?
You know it is true, because as a consumer, you behave exactly in this
manner. We all do. We all have our favorite places to do business and we
choose to go back over and over again. The underlining reason is that the
person or people that we deal with there have created a great feeling in our
minds. They have created the right experience. Burn that truth into your
memory right now, it is critical to your success. I’ll even repeat it.
We all have our favorite places to do business and we choose to go back over
and over again. The underlining reason is that the person or people that we
deal with there have created a great feeling in our minds. They have created
the right experience.
So, now let’s look at the definition of a master professional salesperson.
Simply stated, the word professional is used to define someone who is paid to

around and around. You might even know some of these people yourself.
These salespeople will tell you that they have over twenty years of
experience, but do they really? Have they continued to learn, improve their
skills or challenge themselves? Probably not They only do the minimum to
get by and quite frankly, some don’t even do that.
The salesperson who has been selling for twenty years but never really
improved or learned any new skills might just have six month’s worth of
experience that has gone around and around forty times. My job here is to
add concepts and tools to help you as you become a true master professional
salesperson.
I think there are two main reasons why selling has such a nasty image in the
public eye. The first is the fact that virtually anyone can call him or herself a
salesperson, regardless of qualifications and the second is the totally
underhanded methods that some salespeople choose to use.
First let’s look at the fact that anyone can be called a salesperson. Let’s
consider this:
>>> Doctors need to get trained and pass exams to be called a Doctor.
>>> Dentists need to get trained and pass exams to be called a Dentist.
>>> Engineers need to get trained and pass exams to be called an Engineer.
>>> Accountants need to get trained and pass exams to be called an
Accountant
>>> Airline pilots need to get trained and pass exams to be called an Pilot.
You get my point, don’t you? Sadly, there is no such mandated requirement
to enter the sales field. But wait, it gets worse. In all those other professions
there is also the requirement for ongoing training in order to maintain their
credentials.
Now before anyone gets excited and all distracted by pointing out that certain
selling niches do have certification and ongoing professional development
requirement, such as real estate, securities, and insurance, etc. the vast
majority of selling positions do not. In fact, most mandatory licences and

Beyond the poor training, the second reason the profession takes such a bad
rap is the underhanded behavior of so many salespeople. By that I mean,
they have the characteristic that so many consumers despise in the
marketplace today.
You might be asking, “Where does this bad behavior come from?” In a small
number of cases it may stem from a basic dishonest nature on the part of the
salesperson. But I believe that the majority of bad behavior comes from two
distinct sources. The first source is the lack of proper training which leads to
salespeople just winging it in the approach they use when interacting with
their customers. Additionally, there is the fear of not earning enough money
on the part of the salesperson. This fear often leads to some underhanded
and desperate behavior in order to make the sale happen.
You should understand that the famous 80/20 rule definitely applies in the
selling field This means approximately twenty percent of the salespeople
earn almost eighty percent of the overall money earned. Of course the
corollary of that statement is that means eighty percent of the salespeople are
left scrambling for the other twenty percent which generates some pretty
disgusting behavior from many of those salespeople. We see it every day in
the marketplace, don’t we?
Studies show that salespeople who are in the top twenty percent in their field
consistently earn five to twenty times more than those who are in the bottom
twenty percent. This means that money is no longer the biggest worry in their
lives. As a result, they do not need to resort to underhanded behaviour in
order to close a sale.
Now, as you can see, you can take full advantage of the poor reputation of the
industry by choosing to rise above the common stereotype by learning to sell
at mastery. One of the main supporting pillars of an exceedingly prosperous
selling career is proper ongoing training.
Back in the last century, Anatole France, winner of a Noble prize in literature
once said. “An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory or

Have you finished writing your answer? If you have, then we can carry on.
A few years back, I conducted a little non scientific survey to help me
determine what people thought the job of a master salespeople actually
consisted of. I asked both salespeople and customers just what they
believed. I probably interviewed about fifty people altogether consisting of ten
salespeople and about forty customers. I certainly will concede that this was
not a huge sampling as far as surveys go, but overall the results I received
were surprisingly consistent.
Among the salespeople I interviewed, eight simply said their job was to sell
lots of stuff for the company. The other two thought about the question in a
totally different manner. They said, essentially, their job was to help their
customers select the proper product by giving them the appropriate
information in order to aid them in making an informed, positive buying
decision.
On real reflection, virtually without exception, the customers who were
interviewed told me they believed that salespeople should simply provide the
information the customer needs to make the buying decision and then some
also added that they wanted the salesperson to help the customer justify why
they should buy the product, service or proposal.
When I asked them if that was what they had come to expect when dealing
with salespeople, the majority told me that they felt most salespeople they had
interacted with simply wanted to make a sale as quickly as possible. That is
very interesting, isn’t it?
Now, I invite you to go back and read what it was that you wrote down as your
definition of a master professional salesperson. How does it compare to my
survey results?
Let me ask you now, of the ten salespeople who I surveyed, who do you think
were the highest money earners, the two or the group of eight? I suspect that
you didn’t have to think long about that one, did you? The results weren’t
even close. The two each earned as much as any four of the others

them thrown into jail.
In other words, selling at mastery is never about your needs. It must always
be about the customer’s needs. Understand this reality. Ultimately, it is the
customer who always pays you, isn’t it? The more you fill the customers’
needs, the more your customers will fill your need to get paid! And as you
know, “Getting Paid is Good!!”.
I would be seriously amiss if I didn't elaborate on the concept that “it is always
the customer who pays you”.
There is a new phrase being thrown about in the United States and in Canada
by some politicians and some corporate leaders, which I believe tells only one
side of the story and therefore is somewhat misleading. That phrase is “the
job creators”.
As it is commonly utilized, it implies that the people who possess lots of
money are the only ones who create can jobs. This is very misleading and a
distortion of economic reality. It is not a real truth. It is an only an opinion. I
happen to hold different one. One that doesn't foster an 'us' against 'them'
mentality. I will offer up my point of view on who the job creators really are.
Having money and having the willingness to put that money into the economy
is a requirement of the job creating process. Individual people, companies
and governments with access to money can provide the “mechanism” that
provides jobs. They can build factories, retail outlets, restaurants, vacation
resorts or infrastructure projects. The list goes on.
Governments investment provides funding for road building, research and
defence projects, and social support projects. This creates jobs in an
economy without the actual need for consumer spending. These jobs are real
taxpaying jobs. There is a massive difference between investing in the future
and simply spending money for the sake of spending money.
Entrepreneurs, both individuals and companies, put up their risk capital and
hope for a return on their investment from the marketplace. It is a risky
speculative process. The process of beginning a business creates some jobs

Another reason is that everyone who has or had surplus money before, now
has a massive amount of stuff. Just look at the storage lockers that are
packed with stuff in every community. Cars are parked in driveways
everywhere because garages are packed to the ceiling with unused stuff.
People are inheriting stuff every day that they don't need and can't use. Stuff,
stuff and more stuff.
This economic situation has created a unique opportunity for master
professional salespeople. Customers with access to money or solid credit are
waking up en mass and becoming much more demanding, more selective on
who they spend their hard earned money with and what they spend it on.
Since it will be far more challenging to make a sale, the most competent sales
masters will have almost an unfair advantage on their competitors. My task
here is to begin to provide you with that advantage.
Before we go further, I’ve got to tell you something. If you are looking for
sales “tricks” or “sleazy tactics” to beat up your customers with, you’ve come
to the wrong place. You won’t find any of that here, nor will you find it in any
of my other ebooks. Master professionals don’t need or use those tactics.
They never put their reputation at risk to make a sale. They never have to put
their self esteem on the line. They never compromise their integrity to get
paid. It's all about personal choice.
If you need strategies, concepts and the professional tools of the trade to
build or expand your selling career, you clearly can’t afford not to pick up this
powerful and empowering knowledge.
The title of this chapter is, “What the role of a professional salesperson is and
what the role is not.” so let’s first examine what the role is not.
>>> It’s not trying to sell a product or service to someone who doesn’t
need or want it. This would seriously undermine your credibility and will
actually divert your time and attention away from the prospects who definitely
do want and need your products or services and who will purchase them
ultimately getting you paid.

>>> It’s not about pumping up your ego. Resolve to put aside your ego
when you’re selling, just work to pump up your bank account. That will be far
better for your ego in the long run. Doesn’t that seem like a better idea to
you?
>>> It’s not about winning sales contests or sales awards. The contest
wins and the sales awards will come naturally as a result of your being a
master professional. Focusing on the contests and the rewards diverts your
attention from your customers’ needs to your own needs. This is not a good
thing! Stay laser focused on your customer and you will win more contests
and awards than your trophy case can handle.
By now you might actually be thinking, “Hey, but some of this stuff actually
works sometimes”. Yes, that’s true. Sometimes, some of it will actually work
to close a sale. However, these tactics will not work with the same success
ratios that you will experience by performing the job in the master professional
way. Plus, as an added bonus, you never find yourself stereotyped as the
“typical salesperson”. Won’t that be nice?
With the negatives out of the way, let’s take a look at what the role of a master
professional salesperson actually is.
>>> It’s about being a “Selection Specialist” who helps your customers
find the right product or service which will fill their needs and wants.
This will help them buy easily, without the application of pressure and will
serve to get you paid.
>>> Often, it is helping your customers justify their positive buying
decisions. Everyone wants to feel that their decisions are correct, don’t
they?
>>> It’s about always being truthful. No one likes a liar, not even the liar.
Nothing will destroy a sales career more quickly and more completely than
being branded a liar by either your customers, your peers or by your
managers.
>>> It’s about building a positive relationship with your customer.

paid and then aren’t at all receptive. You’ll see what I mean in chapter three.
In “Selling at Mastery”, I expand considerably on building positive actions and
avoiding the many pitfalls within the selling arena for the master professional
salesperson.,
$$$
Chapter 3
Who puts up the most obstacles to the sale?
Wow, that’s a no brainer, isn’t it? It’s got to be those darn pesky customers,
doesn’t it? Wrong! Wrong! And wrong some more! In fact that couldn’t be
further from the truth.
Within “Selling at Mastery” I disclose and explain this marketplace reality.
Only five things must be in place for an sale on a major item to take place.
Yes, only five simple things. There are no exceptions to this rule. It is also a
marketplace reality that the vast majority of customers who enter the
marketplace in search of a product or service ultimately do make a purchase
within a relatively short period of time.
Now, here is a very interesting point. Most of the time, the customer will deal
with several different salespeople before that purchase is made. Are they
shopping around? Yes, but not primarily for the lowest price. Most customers
shop around for the right product or service but also for a salesperson they
trust, and certainly someone they like, before they will spend their hard
earned cash.
That simple knowledge that they’re shopping for a salesperson as well as the
product or service can give you a tremendous advantage over your
competition.
Here’s why. Poorly trained salespeople do and say some really, really dumb
things, don’t they? How many salespeople have lost your personal business,
in the past, just by saying or doing something totally stupid? When a poorly
trained or amateur salesperson messes up, the customer is sent off by that
salesperson to shop, not for a better deal, but for a more professional

You might start your day by having breakfast or by having a glass of orange
juice because it makes you feel energized as you head out the door or you
start your day by having breakfast or by having a glass of orange juice
because that’s what your Mom conditioned you to do as you were growing up.
You greet new customers with a smile on your face because it generally
results in getting a smile back and you like it when people are happy around
you or you greet new customers with a smile on your face because your boss
told you to do it or he’d fire your sorry butt if you didn’t. Part two in each
example is outside conditioning. Part one is internal, personal choice.
Maybe you have been conditioned by society’s norms or by the norms of the
industry that you’re in. By that I simply mean, you have bought in to the
limitations that others want to put onto your life. Never let anyone put
limitations on your life, including yourself.
I’ve stated it before and I’ll state it again, it’s not about simply right or wrong, it
is about what works and what doesn’t work. It’s also about the choices that
you have over your life and over your career. Remember, as a master
professional salesperson your number one job is to get paid.
To battle back against ineffective outside conditioning controlling your life and
your career, it stands to reason that you have to seriously think about the
actions that you take in your life and on the job. Then you must ask yourself
this, “Does what I’m doing still work best for me or does it not?”. If it does,
keep on doing it for sure. But, if it doesn’t, you can choose to change it!
Wow, what a concept!
Remember, continuing to do things the same way over and over and
expecting different results is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity and it
occurs to me that Einstein was no dummy.
All your behaviors and your actions are performed, either to serve a purpose
for you, or to serve a purpose for someone else. The decision on whether it
makes sense to continue performing any of these actions or behaviors rests
entirely with you. When you understand this concept you become totally

OK, that’s the problem, now what’s the solution? Thankfully, it’s pretty darn
simple. But first, anyone who wants to improve this situation needs to
understand this basic concept. If you do already understand this, you’re well
on your way to success. If you don’t grasp this yet, please pay close
attention, it will change your life. Here it is!!
>>> Everyone who is in the workforce today operates his or her own
personal services business.
Whether you are an executive or a street sweeper, an airline pilot or work on
an assembly line, a police officer, a secretary or a soldier, the fact is that you
trade your personal time, your personal expertise and your passion for your
income.
Therefore, it stands to reason that the primary assets of your personal
services business are simply your time, your expertise (i.e. knowledge and
ability) and your passion (enthusiasm). That makes sense, doesn’t it?
You and everyone that you compete against for your livelihood have exactly
twenty four hours in the day, right? Therefore, there is no advantage or
disadvantage for anyone based solely on time.
Now before we move on, I’m going to share a couple points which I would like
you to ponder. You know, … the things that make you say, Hmm.
First, the only person who you will ever truly know every detail about for your
entire life is you! And second, the only person that you will ever truly work for
over your entire working career is you! Hmm,
Now once those realizations sink in, it becomes really, really empowering .
Why? Because it puts everything you do in your life within your personal
control.
OK, now back to business. “Time” is a level playing field for everyone while
your personal expertise and your passion are other matters entirely, aren’t
they? They are, truly, what separate the master professionals from the
amateurs, the ladies from the girls, the men from the boys, the horses from
the donkeys, the eagles from the turkeys, the sharks from the minnows, the

a small fortune to acquire effective sales training. Thanks to technology, the
internet, ebooks and affordable online reading devices there is a vast
abundance of knowledge available to you for free or at relatively little cost. All
you need to do is actively seek it out.
For example, I am offering my complete, nothing held back, “Selling at
Mastery” ebook for a tiny fraction, about two percent, of what I charged for my
live, week long sales training seminars, which actually covered far less
material than my ebook does.
The ebook format has allowed me to offer and share concepts, strategies and
tools developed and gathered over my forty five plus year career of selling
and sales managing with millions of people who I could never have reached
live because of geographical location and financial costs. Inexpensive
training options are now readily available online and in physical libraries.
Improve your skills to improve your career and your paycheck. The only other
option you have is to stay stuck where you are. Excuses aren't valid
anymore.
The other major asset in your personal services business is your passion or
enthusiasm. I really believe that it is an underlying part of every person’s
makeup to be the best that they can be and to improve their personal lot in
life, if they know how to do that. Along with that comes the basic human
desire to feel happy. How does this concept work for you? Do you agree?
I also believe that if somebody doesn’t feel passionate or happy about
something, it’s often because they don’t feel that they are successful enough
or competent enough in their performance concerning that area of their life or
their career. I have found, that much of the time, just an increase in
knowledge and expertise will unleash an enormous boost in enthusiasm and
passion, not to mention the feelings of both success and happiness.
$$$
Chapter 4
Some of the Self Limiting Behaviors Some Salespeople Engage in and

>>> The culture of entitlement that many people live in today.
>>> Conditioning.
>>> Low self esteem.
>>> Fear.
The failure to take personal responsibility. Looking for someone or
something out there to blame for their situation in life” is the absolute, number
one favorite pastime of those folks who are failing to take personal
responsibility for their lives.
Now I have to tell you something. When you choose to put responsibility on
someone else, you are also choosing to give them all of your personal power,
total control over your life experiences and your financial success or lack of it.
Think about it. Isn’t that true?
In fact, just look around you and you will see that the real winners in sales,
business, or in life itself, almost never blame others when there are setbacks.
On the other hand, they can’t wait to thank others who have helped them
accomplish their goals.
The 'also rans' in sales and in life by comparison, almost never take personal
responsibility for their situations, are constantly looking for someone to blame
for their failures while almost always taking full credit for their occasional
successes. Hmm.
Winners never want to give away their power while the losers are seldom
aware of the incredible amount of power that they can have once they take
personal ownership of their lives.
The culture of entitlement that many people live in today.
Volunteering to give control of their lives and careers to someone else is not a
healthy thing to do. This behavior often has its roots in the culture of
entitlement that permeates much of society today.
This is the conscious or subconscious belief system held by some people that
essentially says, “If something exists out in the world, I am not only entitled to
have it but someone “out there”, other than myself, is expected provide it for

is, in “Selling at Mastery”, I have strategies and concepts that will help put you
on the right track to accomplishing both of these objectives!
Now, before I go any further, I’d like you to understand this. I’m not here to
judge any of those activities for you in your personal life. Your life is yours to
live as you choose. My only purpose is to invite you to ask yourself a
personal question in the event that you have an activity or two which could be
considered potentially destructive in your life.
This question is, “Do these activities improve my position in life and move me
closer to my goals or do they not”? In other words, I'm not asking you to
decide whether they are right or wrong, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, but
rather does the activity work to move you forward to your goals as a master
professional salesperson and a person of integrity? It’s always your choice,
isn’t it?
Not living a balanced lifestyle.
Absolutely every living creature in nature,including human beings, live in a
series of cycles. They achieve peak performance when they are in balance
and healthy. Work, recreation, rest and nutrition, all in balance, will provide
success, harmony and happiness in your life.
Every creature in nature lives its life in relative balance. Every creature that
is, with the exception of human beings. Why do you think that might be? In
the animal kingdom, creatures work, rest, play and eat in balance. Otherwise
they won’t survive long as individuals. Humans often get out of balance due
to submitting to the influences of outside conditioning.
As a society, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we need to work harder
and longer in order to succeed. This advise comes to us from many different
directions. Some people will offer this advise to help you, while others clearly
offer it to help themselves.
Because of this conditioning, many people today are working incredibly long
hours. The truth however, may very well be that the answer to overall
personal success could be simply to learn more, become smarter and then

self esteem absolutely stifles the human spirit. Of all the things that I observe
in the world today, the thing that bugs me the second most is seeing people
trying to condition another human being into believing that they are not
worthy.
The thing that bothers me even more is seeing some people buying into this
total destructive and self limiting concept. Of course you’re worthy! You are
absolutely as worthy as every other person on the planet. No, you are not
more worthy and no, you are not less worthy. You are equally worthy, period!
If you’re an American you might want to remember that old piece of paper
with a pretty good message inscribed on it. If you’re not American, it should
resonate with you anyway. It just makes good sense to me.
That message is; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness”. If you aren’t familiar, the old piece of paper, it is the United
States Declaration of Independence.
So where do all these ideas and feelings of unworthiness come from? This
list contains some really interesting sources of people pushing these ideas
into our lives.
>>> Sometimes it is our school teachers.
>>> Sometimes it is military officers.
>>> Sometimes it is sports coaches.
>>> Sometimes it is our “friends” and peers.
>>> Sometimes it is our parents.
>>> Sometimes it is our religious leaders.
>>> Sometimes it is our employers.
>>> Sometimes it is even our spouses or partners.
I won’t get into specific examples for each one here, but I will ask you to do a
little mental exercise. Look at each one of those sources and see if you can
come up with at least two examples from each source over the years when

$$$
Chapter 5
The Deepest Underlying Motivator That Virtually Every Buyer Brings to
the Table When They Make Any Purchase.
When I have asked some salespeople, and some business owner as well,
what they thought was the driving force behind the majority of purchases large
and small, their most consistent answer has always been “the lowest price”.
Are you surprised? I’m not, companies and advertising agencies, while trying
to find a competitive edge, have been trying to condition customers to this
motivator for years, haven’t they?
Some other answers to my question included quality, after sale service and
the reputation of the company or brand. There were others of course but
those were definitely the main thoughts given. Were any of these your
particular choice?
Now here is the interesting twist. While we do know that a low price is
definitely a major factor to most buyers on most purchases, every single
survey of buyers that I have ever seen has never ranked price as the main
reason customers buy any particular product or service.
Now if I were a salesperson in the trenches every day, I think I’d want to have
a real close look at this information. It seems to me that this would suggest
that the primary focus of the majority of salespeople will be either to try to
provide the lowest price or to try to defend a higher one. (Dare I say the old
80/20 rule may be at work here). 70-80% of salespeople will be primarily
focused on price in one fashion or another, simply because they believe that
is where the customer's primary interest lies.
Yet, in spite of all the advertisements trying to condition both customers and
salespeople toward low price as being the dominant buying motive, all the
surveys tell us that price really isn’t the number one issue in the minds of the
majority of consumers. This tells me that up to 80% of salespeople are
making a potentially critical error when dealing with their customers, since