Whether the prospect makes the purchase or not, it is your duty as a salesperson to educate them and leave them better than you found them.

All salespeople should be experts in their respective fields. They should be advisors and champions of different courses in the community. As I sell my books or advertisement spaces to businesses in our magazines, I make sure I champion what I believe about education and entrepreneurship. These are the two areas that I am passionate about.

Any time I sit with a prospect, I try to add as much value as possible even before I make the sale. Even as I build the rapport, I endeavor to educate the prospect to become a better member of society, a better professional‟ and a leader. I try to transfer my positive mindset and perspective about things that I am passionate about to the prospect. This is more than a duty to me.

Reciprocity

Human beings are moved to help those who have helped them before. This is called reciprocity in psychology. Reciprocity if harnessed properly can be a huge source of leverage for salespeople.

The more you give people value upfront, the more they will be moved to consider what you are selling. They will reciprocate the goodness you have shown to them. This has been proven to work.

How to add value

I have been teaching the principles of success in a certain forum every Tuesday and Friday evening. One of the principles I have taught so far is becoming an asset in life. An asset is something that increases value in other people. A liability on the other hand reduces value in people.

If you are going to succeed, even as a salesperson, it is important to become an asset and not a liability. People will always get attracted to assets and repel liabilities.

Look at the most successful people on earth, why are they that successful? It is because they found a way of adding value to people‟s lives. Look at Jeff Bezos. He made shopping easier and very convenient. I can order something from the United States in the comfort of my house in Kenya. Is this not amazing? I do not have to move an inch from my house. I will order online, pay online, and have it delivered to my house.

Look at Bill Gates, he made our computers easy to use through windows. Everybody uses applications and systems created by the company he founded. They are on every computer all over the world.

The most successful speakers, politicians, professionals, entrepreneurs, and even salespeople are those who add value to people‟s lives. There are no exceptions. We are in a consumer market and only those who add value to customers get ahead in this competitive world.

To become an asset, the following steps are important:

1. Know your purpose

To become an asset, you have to know why you are alive. Understand why you exist. The importance of this is that people are usually passionate and gifted in their area of purpose. This means that you do not struggle to do what you were created to do. It comes out naturally. You will never help other people and become an asset if you are struggling to deliver value. Therefore, understanding your purpose is critical to adding value to people.

To know your purpose, you must:

·     Seek to know. Seek to understand what you were meant to become.

·     Be busy. You cannot understand your purpose when you are idle. You have to be doing something.

·     Look at what you do without a struggle. As we said, you should never struggle to do your purpose. Therefore, what you do without struggle is your purpose in life.

·     Learn to listen. Some mentors can tell you about your purpose. They have the wisdom to see deep within you and lead you in the right direction.

This is the first step when it comes to adding value to people‟s lives.

2. Become so good at it

To add value to people‟s lives, you have to become very good at what you do. This is what makes the difference between people in the same field or industry. To stand out in this competitive world, you have to be super effective and efficient in delivering value.

The secret to becoming good at what you do is improving yourself daily. The word daily here is very key. This is because self-improvement is supposed to be a daily activity. You cannot do it weekly, monthly, or yearly. It has to be daily. Keep reading self-help books in your area, watch useful videos, listen to audiobooks, practice your craft and get more experience.

It is said that you have to do something for 10,000 hours to become an expert. I find some level of truth in that notion. This is because practice will always lead to progress.

Commit at least 3 hours every day to your craft. Learn as much as you can and become the best. This is the only path to becoming an asset.

It is important to note that this will not be easy. There are days you will feel like not practicing or reading. You need to have the self-discipline to overcome such feelings.

3. Do it to a large number of people

To succeed as an asset, you have to expose that value to other people. Let every opportunity be one to offer value to others. Seek those opportunities actively.

To become a success, your value has to be exposed to others. This is why I always advise salespeople to use every appointment with the prospect to add value. Seek as many prospects as possible and add value to them. Even before you present your product to them, teach them something valuable that they will never forget.

If you do it in front of as many people as possible, your success will be visible. People will favor you through reciprocity and give you sales. They will feel obliged to give value back to you.

When you teach them something valuable, they also take your product to be valuable. They know that you are a person of value. The more they hold your product or service as valuable, the more willing they will be to purchase it and even tell their friends about it. When you win their favor, they will give you referrals and spread the word about your product.

If salespeople can only stop being selfish and over commercial, they can start making more money than they have ever imagined. Even if the prospect does not make the purchase, leave them with

value. This is how they will remember you the next time they want to purchase the product. When your only focus is the money the prospect will give you when he makes the purchase, you will suck at salesmanship. You will struggle to make sales even to people who need the product. This is because the prospects have to buy you first before they buy your product.

Similarly, you have to think long-term. Think about the lifetime value of the prospect. They may not make the purchase now but if you network with them effectively, they will buy from you in the future. This is how to think like a successful salesperson. Become an asset to every prospect and you will succeed.