If you Google sales jokes, most of them that come up usually relate to the bad connotations of a salesperson. Greedy, deceitful, shady, and selfish are a few of the common words that come up. And when you get cold-called by someone, those are a few of the phrases that people immediately think of. How do you break that stigma that is ingrained in the minds of many people in society?  

First, let’s think about the benefits of not being perceived as a salesperson when you are cold-calling a potential customer:

 	
Customer will trust you more
 	
You will stand out from the competition
 	
The customer will not feel like they are being ‘sold’ a product or service

Think about when you were younger. Did you ever pick up the phone just to hear the pitch from some telemarketer and quickly realize that you wanted to get out of the conversation as soon as possible? This natural reaction has stuck with many people and can be a natural barrier between you and them.

So how do you break down this barrier? Well, you have to not sound like a salesperson. Here are some tips to ensure that you don’t sound like the pushy salesperson that people naturally think of.
Don’t talk too much
One of the most annoying things from a customer perspective is when you get a call from someone and they immediately start talking your ear off before you even say as much as “Hi.” People like to talk and they don’t like to listen. They especially don't like to listen for long periods of time. So why would you force a potential customer to do something they don’t want to do?
Don’t lie
This should be an obvious one but too many sales reps do this. They tell you something that you know not to be true or something you can easily look up on the internet and find it is not true. Your credibility is immediately ruined if a potential customer knows you lie to them.

Another form of lying is making promises that you can’t keep. All this does is reinforce the image of a deceitful, shady salesperson in the eyes of the customer. You may close the sale originally, but how is the customer going to feel when they realize that you can’t hold up your end of the deal? It will cause them to distrust your brand and ruin any chances that you have of a successful business relationship.
Don’t be too pushy
As buyers we don’t want to feel like we are being sold something. Think about being in a retail store and someone on the floor is trying too hard to sell you on a new product. What is the your natural inclination in this situation? “I’m just looking.” Sale ruined. Think about the four factors of impulse. Indifference is one of the factors for a reason.

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So if you don’t want to be like a salesperson, then what do you want be? Read our follow up blog post to find out how you want to be known in the eyes of the customer.

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