By Todd Duncan

The third step to avoiding a stagnant sales career is a bit of a role reversal, but it’s potentially the most important step.

What I mean by “playing the market” is to become a buyer in your own market. If you sell anything, to remain ahead of your competition, you must understand what it’s like to be a consumer of your product. As a salesperson you can only adjust your selling efforts based on what you observe from the selling end of the transaction. But you can’t truly empathize with your buyers until you are one—otherwise your empathy is really just sympathy.

When I say become a buyer, I mean just that. I believe that every salesperson who is truly interested in understanding his buyers and remaining on the cutting edge of his industry must own at least one of the particular product he sells. I’m not suggesting that you buy your product every month and supplement your competitors’ wal­lets. (And obviously if you’re in the auto or home or any high-end product industry, this isn’t feasible.) But I am suggesting that to fully comprehend what a consumer of your particular product goes through in the process of buying and owning, you must have gone through the process at least once.

If it makes sense, make a habit of buying your particular prod­uct from different competitors (so that you don’t give all your busi­ness to one) on a quarterly basis. If it’s not financially possible to buy your product on a regular basis, then at least shop around every month. Immerse yourself in the buying process as much as you can.

Like the old adage about walking a mile in another person’s shoes, you’ll truly have a better understanding of how to avoid stagnation in your sales career when you get out there and play the market.

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