Selling with Noble Purpose

The Nobility of Sales

For many salespeople, the secret to superior results is to sell as much to your customers as they are willing to buy. Ironically, top sales producers often outperform everyone else by focusing elsewhere; they pay less attention to just selling and more to benefiting their customers through the products or services they offer. To illustrate, a prominent pharmaceutical company’s leading salesperson achieves top sales results because she feels motivated to protect the lives and health of the patients who use the medications her firm manufactures. This idealistic salesperson is a perfect representative of the “noble salesperson.” “I’m not just pitching a product,” she says. “I’m saving people’s lives.” For this sales leader, her job is a calling.

Many superstar salespeople see helping people as their profession. The key to their success is their desire to support their corporate customers in enhancing their operations and to assist individual customers in improving their lives. These top sales producers, who work at firms of all types and across all industries, find their primary motivation in making a substantial, lasting contribution to their clients...