Over the next several days I will be sharing my top 50 traits of Great Salespeople.
How many of these traits do YOU have?
Installment 1
1. GREAT Salespeople don’t think in terms of sales, but in terms of building a business.
When a sales guy looks only at his numbers, he is essentially shooting himself in the foot. People who look at the big picture are able to create goals and achievements much higher than they even thought possible. If I’m looking at myself and just looking at what I can get for me, then I only see small numbers.
Small Numbers = Small Mindset = Underachieving
Think BIG numbers
Expand your outreach; how many people do you want to impact? Think about how much more purposeful your job is if you set your vision to helping people rather than just yourself. By expanding your actions into your community, you will create opportunities at a greater level, while simultaneously nurturing great accomplishments for your company and yourself.
2. GREAT Salespeople build their business one customer at a time and then always leverage the last customer into more customers.
Each customer is valuable, so treat them that way!
You should treat every single customer as if they are going to buy. They might not buy immediately, but they will be buying 3 months from now, 6 months from now, or even a year from now. Make every single person feel valued, respected, and important! You can only close someone when they feel they are getting much more than just the product. Product plus service and, potentially, a long-term client-customer relationship will guarantee returning customers and customers through existing customers.
Get in front of as many people as possible. Sales is and will always be a numbers game. The more people you get in front of, the more you will close. The easiest way to show up and impact a growing audience is to gain respect, and get those you respect to promote you.
3. GREAT Salespeople listen more than they speak; they understand the customers’ needs and create custom solutions to meet those needs.
I could never sell ice to an Eskimo. This is an overused phrase to describe skill, but it doesn’t describe ethics. I could never sell ice to an Eskimo because it would not be ethical for me to do so. The Eskimo already has plenty of ice; what I need to do is find out if the product I have meets his needs. If I was selling heaters or a better type of sled, he would be someone that I would feel ethical selling to because my product solves his problems.
My point: you cannot provide service to anyone by selling them something that will not genuinely help them. Figure out what they need. How? By listening to what they are asking for.
• Think big to build big!
• Build your business one customer at a time!
• Address customer needs and build custom solutions!
