When you are interested injobs in sales, you will be told over and over again that you need to be a people person. One of the nice things about this is that being a people person is something that can be learned; it does not have to be inborn and you can learn it through observation of the people around you. The next time you wander into a store, whether you are shopping for groceries, for fabric or for garden implements, look at the people who are working around you. They might all be equally knowledgeable, or they might be attentive, but chances are good that the ones who will stand out are the ones who have smiles on their faces.
We don't think about it very much because it is second nature to us, but the thing that you need to remember is that humans are hardwired towards certain behaviors. For instance, if you see a small child crying on the street, there is a good chance that you have a compulsion to pick it up and to comfort it, whether it is yours or not. On the other hand, if you hear voices raised angrily and in certain register, there is a good chance that you will feel afraid or angry yourself; the fight or flight instinct is a fairly strong one. This being said, when someone smiles at is, this means a number of different things and the way that they do it is very important.
If you are using a smile while you pursue sales careers, remember that this is something that can mean a lot. It means that you are in control of the situation and that you are confident that things are going to turn out. This also tells people around you that you are a good source of information and that they should be comfortable putting things into your hands. As you may guess, this can be a very useful and important thing for a salesperson to master! Remember that your smile should feel natural and that sometimes an obviously forced smile can be worse than the complete lack of the smile.
Take a moment and think about your smile; is it selling as hard as it can?
