Sales is fundamental to finance. Salesmanship may be the singular most important skill.
So how does one cultivate that skill? What have you guys seen to be a good way to train for good sales?
I feel like in fundraising or selling secondary stakes I'm just practicing failing and there needs to be a proper systematic approach to learning to be more effective at sales. Maybe some people are born with the skill, but I'm not so I want to learn it. Advice welcome.
Trending Content
| +50 | Interviews Are So Fake | 33 | 3h | |
| +33 | 2024 UK Election - Tories finished? | 21 | 1d | |
| +29 | ADHD ! | 13 | 1h | |
| +28 | Being Christian in investment banking | 14 | 2d | |
| +26 | Non-Competes Banned | 30 | 6s | |
| How do I become Sigma | 15 | 22h | ||
| +19 | Moelis has the cutest Analysts? | 4 | 2d | |
| +18 | Best NYC neighborhood for single 30M | 12 | 3d | |
| +16 | Underage intern, drinking? | 7 | 2d | |
| +13 | Secretive vs Universal Prestige? | 7 | 2d |
Career Resources
Get a pure sales job?
I"m in a fairly sales-centric job. Hence I said without a systematic method or training it's the practitioning of failure - though perhaps a better way to put it would be that it's the practitioning of mediocrity. Hence the OP above.
I have gone thru Jordan Belofort's Straight Line training. Not impressive or really useful.
Perhaps there's other resources. It's super easy to brush off what I'm asking above, but in truth nearly every finance job is a sales job and in would be wise of all of us to try to get better at it. When I was in b-school one of the co-founders of Salesforce came to speak, and he correctly pointed out that sales is the most important component of business and that no b-school he's ever visited actually has a class on sales.
And finance careers are all about selling. You sell yourself to get the job, for one. Then if you're in IBD you're pitching your firm's services, and then pitching investment opportunities. If you're in PE/VC, you're pitching your fund to LPs, and selling your capital+advice to prospective companies. In the bar - you're still selling your (ahem) services. So laugh at my question if you must, but it's a very important question you should be asking yourself too if you want to be a player - how can you get better at sales.
My favorite moment in Shark Tank: shark 1: Hey guys what time is sales time? shark 2: It's ALWAYS SALES TIME!
Gotcha sorry. I meant getting some kind of sales development job where you might get that kind of sales training and all you do is sales. Maybe this is not realistic because you already have a job and have a lot of work experience. Maybe you find a legitimate sales expert on Upwork or something and pay him to teach you about sales. Maybe you pump up your volume of sales activities in order to faster figure out what works and what doesn't. Maybe you bang out lots of cold calls to figure out if your pitch is tight and to develop brass balls. Maybe you read some sales books, or maybe just one sales book and try doing what it suggests and if you're not liking that approach read another sales book and try doing what it suggests. I am just spitballing here.
I suggest reading How to Win Friends and Influence People. It helps recognizing the psychology behind certain actions you can use to improve how you come across when speaking with others
Lot of good advice in there, but I have a criticism of it that extends to other sales/social skills books as well. One of the main pieces of advice they share is to listen more, get people to talk about themselves, etc. In reality, I find that most charismatic people are talkers more than listeners. When they enter a conversation they tend to monopolize it, but people don't mind because they tell hilarious anecdotes, make strong statements, and are just compelling personalities in general. Not so easy to teach that.
People who apply the "get people to talk about themselves" strategy can actually be unintentionally very annoying, because it feels like you're being interrogated when you talk to them.
Heard Stratton Oakmont has a good sales program
You’re probably already familiar with them but id suggest reading Wall Street Playboys blog. They’ve moved on from finance but they espouse a similar philosophy as far as sales being the single most important skill
I'm not surprised you haven't received much actionable feedback. Respectfully, most people here are too young to appreciate how much salesmanship is required to succeed in any role, or (disrespectfully) they are willfully ignorant of it.
I wasn't born with it either, so I've spent a lot time learning from books and other professionals. It takes a certain amount of EQ of course, but there are also methods. Those methods depend on what you're selling and the length of the cycle. Much of it has to do with reframing.
What are you actually selling?
edit: you have to apply certain basic sales processes to what you're doing.
Et ipsum sit placeat qui. Illum tempore qui est culpa.
Excepturi et ut voluptatem quis vitae non adipisci. Enim autem dolores ratione fugiat laudantium ad amet.
Error amet rerum quam sint atque. Eos aliquam perferendis quidem velit expedita voluptatem minus. Voluptas molestiae a repellendus dicta iste aut ipsam vel.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...