I came up in sales. I was good at it.

But often times, others can get you off track. You become focused on less important tasks. It seems as though work is always getting done. And sure, much of the work is important, no question, but it can leave you with little time to be the sales leader that you need to be.

Pretty quickly, I realize I am able to adjust my priorities and refocus my business back on sales. It’s a constant battle, but it is a fight worth fighting.

You can look at sales as simply being about making money—but it’s really about service. A good salesperson doesn’t convince the prospect to buy, he or she listens to the prospect’s needs and interests. The art of sales is to help someone make the right purchase for them. A good salesperson deserves the buyer’s trust.

Earn that trust, provide positive value to the customer, and your business will earn the goodwill and the loyalty that translates into staying power. Even better, you’ll deserve your success.

So, how do you be that trusted salesperson?

A trusted salesperson, first of all, is available. Available to see people, meet people, and able to be there for others in any way that your expertise makes possible. Giving yourself to others in that way is the easiest and best way to build a relationship, and relationships make business possible.

During your meetings with your prospects, you can answer questions—but it’s more important to ask questions, questions about the other person’s business, their problems, their pain. Not until you understand them can you help them. Once you start to understand, you can think up more questions that will help you understand even more. With that understanding in place, you can offer insight, ideas, and introductions.

You can provide value.

When I win those battles with myself and focus my business on sales, I make myself the leader of sales, the trusted adviser to my trusted advisers. In time, I expand my role further, writing articles like this one, sharing what I’ve learned with other business owners and sales people. I still see my work as all about service, about providing value to others.

I will always be a salesperson at heart.