This classic hugely inspirational scene from Glengarry Glen Ross has been one of my most favorite when it comes to getting things done.
Having said that, I am not so sure that this is a scene young and budding software marketers or sales guys should be watching though.
Coming from a consulting background I have been a part of countless sales calls and meetings. After watching countless sales deals that fizz out, if there is one thing that I have learnt about selling stuff it is that, If you want to sell badly enough, you will sell badly. If you try hard selling, selling will become hard.
Recent discussions with someone at work reveled a fascinating story on selling his used car. This person had been thinking of selling his car for a long time.
Somewhere during this time, his friend lands up with a broken car and since this car is sitting unused in his garage, he decides to help his friend and let him use it for a dew days.
"A few days later, this friend of mine comes to me and makes me an offer for the car", this person explains. "I told him that German cars need a lot of maintenance after a few years and if he wants a cheaper used car, he should be going in for a Japanese car, but he kept insisting on wanting to buy my car".
"I guess the one thing I learnt about selling and the whole try before you buy model is that you have to have genuine interest in helping someone when you let him 'try' your product. You cannot be thinking about selling when you are helping.", the person concludes his learning from the story.
The point? If your 'try' part is focused on moving your customer to the 'buy' part you will almost never sell. If your 'try' part is focused on helping the customer and letting him discover for himself if he genuinely loves your product to come back to you and buy it, chances are that you won't sell to everyone, but chances are also high that you will hit a niche of people who will really "want" your product.
Don't try to sell to everyone. Don't try to sell anyhow. Don't try to sell all the time.
If the "Always be closing" model is not working for you, the best you can do is move to an "Always be helping" mindset and then when you see someone who genuinely wants your product, give them the line that is dotted and chances are, they will sign on it happily.
I wish you good luck.
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