The Two Archetypes

This evening, I was discussing with a few of my teammates about what makes for an effective salesperson. I explained the difference by illustrating two typical archetypes.

Peter was an aggressive salesperson. He was relentlessly focused on achieving his sales targets and was always fixated on “closing the sale.” Whenever he faced a customer, his approach was always to pitch the product, present the key features and benefits, and try to convince the clients about the virtues of the solution. Selling for Peter was always about pipelines. His thinking was, ” I pitch to 10 clients, 2 or 3 will take.” As soon as a sale happened, Peter would celebrate and quickly redirect focus to the next sale. Peter always enjoyed some short-term success but often found it fleeting. He never understood why.

On the other hand, Jack believed in “building relationships.” His focus was never on pitching a product. It was on figuring out the customer’s needs and problems and evaluating how he could solve them. Jack firmly believed selling was about forging meaningful relationships by delivering genuine value. Rather than getting carried away by the thrill of closing a deal, he channeled his energy towards effective communication and aligning both sides(his and the client’s sides) for long-term success. Jack enjoyed consistent growth and success as a salesperson.

The crucial difference between Peter and Jack was in their mindsets, their purpose, and their approach. Jack recognized that true business success comes from genuinely addressing customers’ real problems. He knew that his success was in the value that his clients derived.