People hate salespeople generally. This is the truth. I go to schools to sell books and most principals are usually fed up with salespeople. They end up saying, “It is not that I am rejecting your product, it is that tens of salespeople have come here today and our budget does not allow us to buy everything.” From the tone and the facial expression, he is fed up with salespeople. Most people are the same.

People hate to meet salespeople, including me. When you receive an email or a call from a person who wants to sell you something, you always feel that the salesperson is coming to push you around, waste your time and take your hard-earned money away.

Even though many salespeople sell valuable products that can be useful in our lives, people rarely think about that because salespeople have consistently messed their reputations up. Most salespeople are highly motivated but very unprofessional because of a lack of knowledge. This makes them push people around in a bid of forcing a sale to happen. They have been taught not to give up. They are also desperate to sell because their income depends on how many deals they close. Most of them feel that if they do not make that sale, they will not be able to pay their bills. This desperate sale makes people irritated because it is forceful and pushy.

Salespeople are also hated for their greed. Most salespeople are only after the commission. They care less about the client. They

think that the client does not differentiate between genuine concern and hypocrisy. This is one thing that clients always notice. As the client interacts with you as a salesperson during the pitch, they will know your motive. If they realize that you are trying to get a commission from their pocket, they become defensive.

Most of what happens in sales pitches is a supremacy battle. The salesperson is trying to get the money from the prospect and the prospect is defending it vigorously. This is not a good experience for any salesperson. Anytime the prospect notices that your only motive is to get the commission, they will never give you the sale no matter how superior your product is. In every sales battle, the prospect always wins.

Due to this greed, people hate salespeople. People hate those who try to snatch their hard-earned money. The mind of the prospect cannot differentiate between the actions of such a salesperson and a thief. It will defend itself against both in equal measures. This is the source of most objections.

The third reason why people hate salespeople is that people love to buy but hate to be sold to. People equate being sold to being controlled. People love absolute control over their decisions. They love to be sovereign. They hate people telling them what to eat, what to dress on, and even what to buy. Why would a person go to the supermarket and do impulse buying with their hard- earned money and then refuse to buy something they need from a salesperson? Such a situation is very common with most buyers. When no one is controlling them, they can buy even what they do

not need. When someone is controlling them, they refuse to buy even what they need. It is just how we are as humans.

The fourth reason is that humans are selfish generally. When they realize that you are making a commission out of their purchase, most people will choose to deny you the sale and then go and buy what you were selling in the nearby store. By default, human beings hate to see other people progress. Of course, there are exceptions to this, and that is why I said by default. Some people have mastered their selfish desires and overcome them. This is just a small percentage of people in the universe. This usually happens especially when you are trying to sell to people who are familiar with you. They would rarely want you to move forward financially and in your career.

For these reasons, acting like a salesperson is a recipe for failure in any sales process. Always act as an expert. People adore exerts. People love experts. People like to listen to experts. They would gladly give them their time and attention. This is the one secret that distinguishes between average salespeople and master closers.

I do motivational speaking in schools. I also have a best-selling academic book called The DNA of High Achievers for high school students. I wrote this book purposely to distinguish myself from all other motivational speakers in the market today. As an academic author, the school heads view me as an expert and not a mere salesperson. This is why they listen to me and give me speaking engagements. Although I have made money from

selling the book, my original objective for writing the book was to distinguish myself as an expert in academic matters.

When I wrote my first book, I had challenges getting people to buy it. As I wrote more and more books, people were more ready to buy because writing many books made me an expert in the eyes of my prospects. This has given me great leverage over my competitors. Due to this competitive advantage, my market share has greatly improved in the market.

You can also take advantage of this and present yourself as an expert other than a salesperson. The best way to do this is to write a book on your subject, write articles for the local magazine, start a blog, or even start a page on social media for the same. You can start doing marketing for your content and get the following. As you get followers, you tend to become a leader in your industry.

Every time you start your sales pitch, be sure to mention your expertise in a crafty manner; mention it in a way that the prospect does not notice that you are trying to control their decision. This is called self-promotion. I do this all the time. As we converse with the client right before the pitch, I find ways of promoting myself to appear as an expert and not a salesperson.

For example, I can say, “By the way, I have also noticed that about people and I wrote about it in my sixth book…” This is a statement of self-promotion that is hidden in a normal statement and conversation. I am just trying to have the customer register in their mind that I have written six books or even more. It is a good trick. I spend time doing it before every sales pitch and I love it.

This is not pride or exaggeration, it is just pointing out what you have already done. This gives you the authority to request whatever you want to do for the client.

You can also promote yourself as you do your cold calling. This is also a good time to do it to compel your client to give you the appointment. As we said, people love to listen to experts. For example, when I call a prospect, I start like this, “My name is Mark, I am the CEO of Giimark Limited, a success coach and the author of eight books among them, two best-selling books: The DNA of High Achievers and The Curse of Formal Education…will you be in the office on Monday afternoon?” Even before I say what I want to say, the mind of the prospect is already yearning to give me an appointment. They count it as an honor to meet me and give me their time. This has given me massive success. When I finally meet them, I now introduce myself again, this time giving more details. I now tell them what we do at Giimark. After the extended introduction, I now bring up a conversation that we are going to cover later and I continue with self-promotion. By the time I want to ask for the sale, the prospect is already yearning to work with me. This is the power of acting like an expert.

The best way to act as an expert is to become an expert. If you try to act like an expert without being an expert, the results are short- lived. The prospect will notice the hypocrisy. As a salesperson, you have to constantly upgrade your skills and knowledge to talk and present yourself as an expert. You have to learn as much as you can about the industry and not just about the product. Most

people have only been taught to know about the product but that is not enough. You have to know about the industry, the trends, and the forecast to impress the prospect. After knowing them, make sure you mention them every time you are making the pitch. Do not mention them explicitly as a presentation but as a conversation.

If you are not ready to study and invest in yourself, then you are not ready to become a master closer. You will get more results by pitching half a day and upgrading yourself the rest of the day other than pitching the whole day and not upgrading yourself at all. As an expert, selling becomes easy. Expertise will account for more than 50% of your sales success. This means that experts have more than double the chance of selling than average salespeople.

Decide today to not only act as an expert but to become one. Life will be much easier for you. People will want to give you their time and their money. Your prospects will become your followers: they will do whatever you ask them to do and this is an amazing advantage for you and your career.