Great sales people are not only hard workers, yet are students of their craft. They are always prepared and understand the process of selling. They focus on understanding why people/teams/companies buy things; and as silly as it sounds, a lot of the time it's about simply ASKING and then listening. Over time you will be amazed what you learn.
One of the biggest challenges is overcoming the psychological hurdles associated with developing the mental toughness and discipline that leads to becoming laser focused in sales. Some of the greatest athletes in history were the most disciplined people in their sport. Most people struggle grasping the idea that "NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BUY". In fact, MOST WON’T. -- and that's perfectly ok. Some will buy now, others tomorrow, and some will never buy from you even if you give your product away for free! You CANNOT let the "NO"s bring you down. Every no, brings you closer to a yes. In its most basic form, its simply the law of averages. These are laws that all sales people must internalize before they can really be effective.
Now in regards to the notion that: "Some will buy now, others tomorrow, and some will never buy from you even if you give your product away for free!" --
There are a few key concepts to think about:
BE PREPARED:
How do I prepare myself so that no matter what "objection" the prospect gives me, I am going to provide a valid response?
Now this is an interesting concept. Unprepared sales people often sound like liars and frankly are full of crap. And the reason is that they were not prepared, gave a senseless answer, resulting in the prospect to smell their lies a mile away. The result is often the sales person loses credibility and trust. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you will always lose the deal; yet you now will have to dig yourself out of the pile of skepticism.
Be Organized: Every great sales person has their own system of staying organized. (shameless plug coming) In fact, one of the premises behind Feedgen was to build a tool that was easy to use, so that sales people actually used it properly and were able to stay organized and disciplined. So although we hope everyone uses Feedgen, find a system that works for you and USE IT. It will mean the difference between figuring out who is going to buy NOW, TOMORROW, or NEVER. Moreover, finding the people that will buy tomorrow consists of making sure that you are organized in a way that will keep you top of mind and in contact with them until they are ready. Again it's simple in concept, yet requires mental toughness and discipline to execute.
Start preparing today. The sooner you begin to internalize these rules the sooner you will begin to yield great results.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Attributes of a Real Sales Person
Cold Calling skills are essential when your goal is to be a top sales person.
We live in a digital age where people consider themselves "salespeople" just because they studied business in college or responded to inbound leads provided by marketing. It is fair to say that technology has evolved the sales process and online marketing/social media gives a sales person a helping hand, yet at the end of the day a real sales person understands human behavior. They understand the way people want to be approached irrespective of the channel or method; whether it is via email, phone, social media etc.
For example, in the same way that we hate being called up by a telemarketer who is clearly reading a script, sounding phony and impersonal, we don’t like receiving mass email blasts, which are clearly marketing generated. These only work when your brand is recognized and trusted, NOT on a cold approach.
Real sales people can pick up the phone and generate their own leads. They understand how to create a prospecting or “approaching” strategy and the processes of executing against that strategy. They understand that some will take your call and some wont. Some will respond and others won’t. They are masters at crafting properly worded emails, with just enough messaging to intrigue the prospect to giving you a chance.
At the end of the day we are the same old human beings simply using new methods to communicate. If anything technology provides more transparency than ever before.
We live in a digital age where people consider themselves "salespeople" just because they studied business in college or responded to inbound leads provided by marketing. It is fair to say that technology has evolved the sales process and online marketing/social media gives a sales person a helping hand, yet at the end of the day a real sales person understands human behavior. They understand the way people want to be approached irrespective of the channel or method; whether it is via email, phone, social media etc.
For example, in the same way that we hate being called up by a telemarketer who is clearly reading a script, sounding phony and impersonal, we don’t like receiving mass email blasts, which are clearly marketing generated. These only work when your brand is recognized and trusted, NOT on a cold approach.
Real sales people can pick up the phone and generate their own leads. They understand how to create a prospecting or “approaching” strategy and the processes of executing against that strategy. They understand that some will take your call and some wont. Some will respond and others won’t. They are masters at crafting properly worded emails, with just enough messaging to intrigue the prospect to giving you a chance.
At the end of the day we are the same old human beings simply using new methods to communicate. If anything technology provides more transparency than ever before.
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