Sales is a discipline that seems simple but is truly understood by few. In teacher Liu Yexiong's training class, students often ask, "Isn't sales just selling things? Who can't do such a simple thing?" If you approach sales with this mindset, you certainly don't understand it. According to statistics, many people in the domestic sales industry have not studied professional marketing knowledge. So what exactly is sales?

Looking at the current marketing world, stories like "selling refrigerators to the Arctic" or "selling combs to monks" have become spiritual idols, but the phenomenon of "false, grandiose, and empty" is rampant. Where is the way out for sales? Let me share a story with you:

On Fifth Avenue in New York, there was a copier manufacturing company that needed to hire an excellent salesperson. The boss shortlisted three candidates from dozens of applicants, including a young woman named Annie from Philadelphia.

The boss gave them one day to fully demonstrate their abilities! But what kind of thing could best demonstrate their abilities? After leaving the company, the salespeople discussed it. One said, "Selling products to people who don't need them! That best demonstrates our abilities. I've decided to find a farmer and sell him a copier!"

"That's a great idea! Then I'll find a fisherman and sell him my copier!" another candidate said excitedly. Before they set off, they asked Annie to join them. Annie thought for a moment and said, "I think those things are too difficult. I'd rather do something easier!" Then she headed in another direction.

The next morning, the boss summoned the three candidates to his office again: "What did you do that best demonstrated your abilities?"

"I spent the whole day and finally sold a copier to a farmer!" one candidate said proudly. "You know, a farmer doesn't need a copier at all, but I made him buy one!"

The boss nodded and said nothing.

"I spent two hours going to the Hudson River in the suburbs, another hour finding a fisherman, and then I spent a full four hours talking endlessly, finally persuading him to buy a copier just before sunset!" the other candidate said equally proudly. "In fact, he had no use for a copier, but he bought it!"

The boss nodded again, then turned to Annie and asked, "What about you, young lady? Who did you sell the product to? A housewife in an apron? Or a lady walking her dog?"

"No! I sold the product to three electrical appliance dealers!" Annie pulled several documents from her bag and handed them to the boss. "In half a day, I visited three dealers and signed three orders, totaling 600 copiers!"

The boss was overjoyed and picked up the orders to look at them, then announced that he was hiring Annie. At that moment, the other two candidates protested, saying that selling to electrical appliance dealers was nothing special because they needed these products anyway.

"I think you have a misunderstanding of the concept of ability! Ability is not about using the shortest time to accomplish the most incredible thing, but using the shortest time to accomplish the easiest thing! Do you think that spending a day selling one copier to a farmer or fisherman, compared to selling 600 copiers to three dealers in half a day, shows who is more capable and who contributes more to the company?"

The boss continued seriously, "Making farmers and fishermen buy copiers, I even suspect you bragged about many functions of the copiers! I must remind you that this is the biggest taboo for a salesperson!"

After saying this, the boss told them that he would not change his mind about the hiring decision!

In her future work, Annie always adhered to a principle: put all your energy into doing the things that are easiest to succeed! Don't do things that sound mysterious but don't help the company. Years later, Annie set a world record of selling 2 million copiers a year, which remains unbroken to this day!

In 2001, Annie was not only named by Fortune magazine as one of the "100 Greatest Salespeople of the 20th Century" (and the only woman among them), but she was also elected CEO of this copier manufacturing company, serving for 10 years!

She is the just-retired former president of the world's largest copier manufacturer—Xerox Corporation—Annie Mulcahy.

Use the shortest time to do the easiest things! Making sales simple is also the goal that every salesperson pursues.

In short, sales is a great discipline. Professional sales knowledge is often a subject that is learned through a systematic process and a scientific method, and it requires standing in the customer's shoes to think about problems. It is not about mobilizing employees' enthusiasm to turn the impossible into the possible. Such sales are actually meaningless. Finally, to become an excellent salesperson, you must master professional marketing knowledge, be able to transform theory into your own experience in practice, and turn experience and knowledge into practical skills.

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