What Is a Professional

Marketing

What Is a Professional
by Tim Connor



or years, I have been hearing people use the word “professional”  – especially when they are referring to salespeople. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t apply to other professions. In this tip, I am going to deal only with it as it relates to the profession of selling.

How would you define professional? I have been asking my audiences for years how they would define this word or concept, and I get a variety of answers, such as:

Well groomed

Punctual

Well dressed

Honest

Knowledgeable

Good attitude

Doesn’t bad-mouth the competition

Customer focused

Dependable

Caring

Creative problem solver

Good at sales follow-up

This list could go on for several pages. Again I ask you, how would you define being a professional? To me, being a professional is not what you sell, but how you sell. Let me explain. Many people selling Amway, Tupperware, and Mary Kay cosmetics may think of themselves as less than professional because they sell soap, bowls or lipstick. By the same token, many salespeople selling for IBM, Hewlett Packard or Mercedes Benz may tend to think of themselves as the cream of the professional crop. Well I have news for you. I have met some pretty sleazy salespeople selling very expensive products and services, and I have had the pleasure of doing business with some really great people selling low cost consumables.

Selling is not what you sell, but how you sell what you sell. How are you doing when it comes to being a pro? How do your clients or customers think you are doing? How do you think your competitors think you are doing? How does the market place think you are doing? Don’t wait for the results to come in from these sources. If something needs fixing, fix it now.


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Tim Connor, CSP, is a professional speaker and expert in the fields of management, sales, team building, and customer service. He's the author of 19 books and can be reached at 704-895-1230, speaker@bellsouth.net or www.timconnor.com.