by Charles Ray

Created on: February 08, 2009

This is definitely a case of "it takes two to tango."

The only answer to that question that makes any sense is, both. A salesman sells to a customer who wants to buy. Without both sides of that equation present, neither selling nor buying takes place. I believe, however, that there is more 'buying' than selling taking place in most sales transactions.

It is commonly believed that a good sales person can sell anything, or as my grandmother would put it, "sell an icebox to an eskimo." But, having watched the process over the decades, I am convinced that without a willing seller, even P.T. Barnum would have a hard road to hoe.

Selling is like leadership. Without someone willing to follow, there is no leader, despite whatever fancy title you might possess. Leadership is the act of obtaining the willingness of others to allow you to lead - or to at least think you are leading. That is what selling is all about. The customer allows the salesperson to lead him or her to the act of obtaining an item. The more skillful the salesman, the easier it is for the customer to 'allow' the transaction to take place.

So, it's not selling that is taking place. The adept salesperson merely does not 'fail,' while a salesperson who does not possess at least a minimum of people skills does not motivate the buyer to allow him or her to make the sale. How many times, for instance, have you gone into an establishment - say, a car dealership - fully intending or desiring to buy, but decided against it. Sometimes it's because of rudeness or stupidity of the salesperson, at other times, you can't quite put your finger on why you made the decision not to buy. I submit it is because the salesperson did not create the proper conditions to enable you to grant permission for him or her to make the sale.

Having said all that, I must admit it does seem a lot like the chicken and the egg. But, I think I have the answer to that as well. There had to be at some point a cosmic egg from which the first metro-sexual chicken emerged, which has given rise down through the centuries one of the oldest conumdrums on the planet. Do buyers buy, or do sellers sell. If there had not been the first person who wanted to obtain some item that was not already in his possession, and who was willing to part with something of value in order to obtain it, we wouldn't have ever had the first salesperson.

Learn more about this author, Charles Ray.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.