Sales for Non-Sales Professionals: Selling in a Mission-Based Organization

You’re on a mission. You just spent the last eight months traveling the world—North and South America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. You noticed there is a major problem not being addressed. Take your pick: poverty, food insecurity, a shortage of wastewater treatment around the globe. Whatever your cause, you found a mission and you know you can do good in the world to help solve it.

You want to work on your mission—let’s say helping more communities gain access to clean water. You believe in the mission and you know how to do it, including more infrastructure to make water treatment centers and providing access to filters. That’s your passion, and you are good at it. You can set up treatment facilities in five weeks when it takes most people thirty. You can get a thousand people cleaner water for half of what it costs the other companies. But you need clients and sponsors. You need someone to support your cause, and you realize you need to sell them on your idea—but you know a lot about water, not much about sales.

What do you do?

THE MISSION SALE

There are typically three ways to go about mission selling. The first can be seen in companies like Warby Parker and Bombas. When the Bombas co-founders Randy Goldberg and David Heath learned that socks are the most requested clothing item in homeless shelters, they decided to start a sock company that donated a pair of socks to a homeless shelter for every pair purchased. Are Bombas’ socks incredibly comfortable? Yes, but lots of other companies claim the same. As a consumer, I could buy comfy socks—or I could buy comfy socks and feel good that my purchase is helping others.

Warby Parker was originally started when one of the founders lost his glasses and had to suffer through a semester of grad school without them after learning how expensive a new pair would be. (That first year off your parents’ insurance is always rough.) He and his friends built a company that circumvents traditional channels and sells high-quality prescription eyewear at a fraction of the cost.

Warby Parker’s founders knew they wouldn’t be the only high-quality, lower-priced option for long. Five years after they started, they began their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program, through which they donate a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair purchased. Was that why they originally started? Who cares? They are doing good in the world. Why would I want to order inexpensive frames when I could order inexpensive frames and help others?

That’s mission selling. You have a mission, and you sell something so that others can help you make a bigger impact in your mission. Or you have something you want to sell, but to stand out in selling it, you need to advance a mission that goes beyond your product. Think of companies with A LOT of competition—a new shoe brand, a new potato-chip company, a new toilet-paper maker. A water-treatment startup. There are so many players in these industries that you need something to stand out.

Don’t groan at the idea of selling. You are guiding people to their best solution. Your mission is important, and the sale gets them to use their wallet to support it. You just need to iron out the right message.

A great chip with an amazing salt-to-chip ratio isn’t enough to sell, with giants like Doritos and Lays out there. That’s when having a mission to help sell your product becomes important. Saying your chip tastes better isn’t enough; everyone says their product is the best. But having a story can differentiate you, and even something seemingly unrelated—like being eco-friendly—might do the trick.

According to a study done by NielsenIQ, 85% of millennials are eco-conscious to the point where they will change their buying habits to support environmentally friendly products. A vast majority also say they are willing to spend more for eco-friendly products than their cheaper competitors.

So, your potato chips go green. Suddenly your Green Chip company has a mission to be carbon-zero, which it advertises and talks about. (The key isn’t making it an eco-friendly mission; just recognize it should be something that resonates with buyers beyond your product.) Now you have an entire generation more likely to buy your chip than your competitor, because you used your mission to sell.

This isn’t always about your own vision. This is about what you can do for your client or target audience, and what resonates with them.

SELLING IS STORYTELLING

Some companies sprout their mission organically, and these missions will help them sell. When actor Paul Newman founded a salad-dressing company, he declared at the outset that he wanted to help kids. They donate 100% of their profits to good causes. Their motto is, “Let’s give it all away.”

If you go to their about page, this mission is front and center. Newman’s story does not start with their love of ranch, or seasoning, or dressing salads. They start immediately with their mission—to donate their profits.

Wisely, the team behind the brand drew on Paul Newman’s fan base from his movies by telling the story that Newman, and partner A. E. Hotchner, made the original salad dressing as an at-home recipe that they gifted to friends. Selling is storytelling, many consumers want to feel a connection to your product before they buy it. The flavor of the ranch only matters so much. If people feel the intimacy of the story, and feel like they are doing good work through your product, then they will buy your product over another. People buy when they feel like they know you, like your mission, and trust you.

PRODUCT AS MISSION

Sometimes your product is inextricable from your mission. Herbal medicine, fitness products, solar panel companies; the missions are embedded in the products themselves. Natural living, physical fitness, and clean energy all seem to sell themselves, right? In reality, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that they will.

You know your wellness products help people feel better; you know clean energy is sustainable. But people forget the importance of your cause, which means that you need to find a way to frame your mission as part of every sale. The most important thing to remember is, YOU ARE NOT YOUR BUYER. More on that in a minute.

MISSION AS PRODUCT

Some organizations sell their mission without even having a product. Going back to our water treatment example, think of other nonprofits. The World Wildlife Fund does not offer products, but rather aims to conserve the environment. They do this through conservation efforts, animal protection, and other avenues.

But they do not say, “Give us money so we can clean up trash on the beach.” Nor should they. If you saw that, you would simply think, “I can go do that myself.” Instead, they use their larger mission. They use a sales ethos that their company can have a bigger impact than the sole individual. If many people donate small amounts, it leads to a large impact without any one person feeling the financial burden. If you go to their site or their ads, that is where they focus.

YOU’RE NOT YOUR BUYER

The danger to cause-based companies, and really most sales, is that people think they are selling to themselves. You care about water treatment, so you believe that everyone will care about water treatment. You know turmeric is good for inflammation, so everyone will want turmeric and wellness products for their health. Doesn’t everyone care about health?

The thing is, you are not your customer. Not everyone has the same ideas, beliefs, or reasons for buying as you. But there are reasons for buying, and there are better or worse ways to frame your product so more people will buy. Frame your cause!

I initially found Bombas because of an especially sensitive family member who could not stand toe seams in her socks. Was I actively seeking a sock company that donated to homeless shelters? No. Was I thrilled to support a company with a noble mission? Absolutely.

People like to support causes with their wallets. Customers may not initially be thinking about your mission, but they appreciate your values—and your socks, glasses, chips, or salad dressings really are better, after all. They’ll spend $10 to support your cause and feel better about themselves. Meanwhile, you made the sale you need over and over to change the world, one sale at a time, and suddenly selling feels good.

We can help sales professionals and non-sales professionals alike. Reach us at mastery@maestrogroup.co for more information on training, coaching, and consulting.