Are You a Sales Giver, Taker or Matcher?

Cultural wisdom from a Judea-Christian perspective has always suggested that it is better to give than to receive or take. In business and in sales this may be counter intuitive because to give away solutions (products or services) does not move the business forward. Small business owners to sales managers do not want their sales teams giving away the store.

Yet according to Adam Grant author of Give and Take, the givers in sales started with 6% lower revenue than takers and matchers, but achieved 68% greater revenue by year’s end. (Note: Givers are those who give without selfish motivation. Takers are those take without giving in return. Matchers are those who seek equal trade.)

If this business research holds true, what does it mean for your small business and especially those who sell your solutions?

Or in other words, how does one approach sales or business growth without selfish motivation?

Is such an approach actually possible?

I believe those in sales can be givers provided they know themselves and have control of this one word – EGO.

We all need a good ego to survive. However a strong ego where it is all about me (selfish), does not set well with many folks.

Social media is a good example of givers, takers and matchers. I am connected with some great people many of whom would be viewed as competitors and they retweet my postings as I do theirs. Their giving is done freely and without any compensation. Our goal is to help each other and be supportive.

Then there are those in social media, the takers, who want their Tweets or postings shared and yet will not reciprocate. And occasionally there are some who are the matchers where for example they follow you only if you follow them.

Another part of this answer is to understand that to give does not mean to give away for free. When some small business owners and sales professionals hear or read the word “give” they immediately associate that word with free. And free means a loss of profits directly through the sale of something or indirectly through time.

Personally for me, I adopted this belief of “just be valuable” several years ago. What this means for me is to share information, resources, ideas with others freely and without any thought of compensation. By having this internal belief, I still maintain a good ego. From a small business perspective, my profitability is up, I enjoy my business with greater enthusiasm and I have far less stress.

As in all aspects of life, we can choose how we want to behave and ultimately this choice begins with our beliefs, our thoughts our internal motivational drivers. So two questions remain: