You Are You for a Good Reason.

For the last 12 years, I have had the pleasure of working for a great medical device company. My career has been challenging and rewarding. In the process of learning how to "sell", I have learned a few things about "me". While the lessons have been many, one of the most important things I have learned about myself is that I am not all that bad of a guy. In fact, I have learned to really like myself.
Now that may sound like such an obvious revelation. Wait on that thought for just a little bit. Really ask yourself if you have taken the time to really get to know yourself and like yourself. Its not always an easy thing to do. It is also difficult to recognize the some of the patterns that may indicate that you don't really know yourself at all.
With the benefit of hindsight, I eventually realized that I made a mistake very early in my career. It was the mistake of taking it for granted that I needed to change. This "changing" came in the form of believing that I needed to perfectly mimic the successful sales persons that I was being trained by.
At that time I thought I was learning to be a sales rep. What I was really learning was how to act like a sales rep. I spent so much time playing the part, I lost my own identity in the process. Also, I missed out on the true thought processes behind good selling.
Later on in my career and more and more everyday, I realize that what my customers really want is a genuine article. I remember some of my customers commenting on how formal I was when communicating with them. I have always been respectful, but for me to be described as formal was really a surprise. Outside of work, I love to be down to earth and approachable. How was it that I changed at work? Because the sales rep that I trained under was a formal type guy.
That was the model I learned. That was the role I had learned to play.
When you leave home for work, you cant leave yourself at the doorstep. That's what I am wanting to get across to my readers today. Be yourself with your customers. They will see you as a real person, just like they are. You will gain more credibility because you are genuine. Also, you wont have to remember the scripts. You just go about your day as yourself.
You are a great person with a unique personality and a variety of experiences to share and stories to tell. Take that to your customers this week. Be yourself. Its a great thing.