In a recent networking event, I had an opportunity to engage in a very interesting conversation with a senior sales manager of a large firm. I got a chance to ask him a few questions and learn a few things from him.
Photo courtesy of ©Depositphotos/Yuri_Arcurs
In a short conversation, he shared many little things he does regularly outside of his job responsibilities for his prospects and customers that have consistently helped him not just in keeping his existing clients pleased, but to grow his customer base tremendously by new referrals.
Impressed with the simplicity in his approach and his creativity, I asked how did he get these ideas and who taught him these techniques. In response, he said with a smile, "These are my survival skills. I needed to be different to keep my position in the company. "
He said, “I think sales is just a process of adding value to others and you can only do it well when you focus on building relationships. You can also say that sales is a process where you can really succeed when you are sincerely interested in solving a problem for your customer. I knew many people don’t follow this principle. So it was simple – I started and it started to produce.”
Towards the end of my meeting, I summarized our discussion into 5 lessons that may be useful for any entrepreneur or sales professional looking to get better:
1. Successful Sales People Are Genuinely Interested In Other People
Everybody likes to talk. Therefore, we all like to be around the people who can listen. Successful sales professionals and entrepreneurs understand this. Besides, they also know that the only way they can learn about people is by asking good questions and then listening to the answers attentively.
2. Successful Sales People Are Proud Of Their Profession
You can only succeed in your profession if you are passionate about it. You can only be passionate when you are proud of your profession. Successful sales people are willing to fight for their profession, for their position and willing to do whatever it takes to be a success.
3. Successful Sales People Know And Believe In Their Product
How can somebody else believe in your product or service if you don't believe yourself? I see so many entrepreneurs running around trying to make a sale. So many network marketers trying to sell their product or service to somebody while they will not personally use their own products. No wonder they eventually feel frustrated and give up in the long run.
People who succeed, have tremendous belief in their company, their products and services and they are passionate when they talk about it. Their belief shows up through their eyes, it shows up in their attitude.
4. Successful Sales People Believe In Themselves
If you are hungry, you can't really feed others. If you have low self-confidence, how are you supposed to get somebody else to have confidence in you?
The depth of your belief and the strength of your conviction determines the power of your personality. ~Brian Tracy [tweet this]
And if people don't believe in what you say, they do not want to buy what you sell. Successful people work hard to keep up their self-esteem and their self-confidence. They read to improve themselves every day. They associate with right kind of people to keep their spirits uplifted and they are very skeptical about spending time with people with negative mental attitude.
5. Successful Sales People Are Always Open Minded To Learn New Things
When we don't learn, we don't grow. When we don't grow, we start to age. This is the universal law that applies on everything. People who are success minded understand this truth and therefore, they are always looking for new information.
Successful sales people are always exploring new ways to connect with their prospects, communicate with their customers and one more way to add value to other people. They are always looking to improve themselves and therefore their sales and their businesses grow.
Recommended Books
For more insights on sales process and how to make a success in selling your product and services, here are some of the most phenomenal books I personally enjoyed reading. I believe these books have tremendous amount of wisdom inside them and therefore, I highly recommend these:
- How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
- Go-Givers Sell More by Bob Burg
- Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
- Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz
- Bypassing No in Business: Selling Your Ideas with Ease: New Body Language and Influence Strategies to Eliminate or Reduce Resistance to Anything by Harlan Goerger
Question: If you get an opportunity to choose a product or a service to sell, what will you choose? What is the biggest challenge you think of when it comes to selling and how do you plan to overcome that? Please add value to the post with your response in the comments as I look forward to your thoughts.
I enjoyed reading this post and will use this as a guideline for my personal Sales as a Salesman. I have read the “Go-Giver” and really liked it.
I am glad to know you enjoyed. Isn’t “Go-Giver” such an awesome book?
Thanks for sharing.
Kumar,”Focus on Making a Difference not just on Making a Sale”, seems to be the mantra for success in sales. The gentleman about whom you shared in your article also said it all. Thanks for the very well organized post.
Thanks,
Daniel
Thank you Daniel.
Excellent illustration of what good sales is all about. Belief in the products and in the self , both are very important to success in sales.
I liked all the points and I might add
a sixth item to the list. “There is no such thing as a small customer and successful sales people serve their all customers with respect and dignity.”
That is a very important point, Senthil. Thank you. Appreciate your inputs.
Nice article again ….. This is the quality, everyone
should have up to, the level he or she should be able convince at least himself.
Lake of this quality can have negative impact on their personal live and even
on relationship with others.
Adding a saying “Sales For a product or service to succeed, it
must be the right product, being sold at the right time, to the right customer,
in the right market.”
Thank you for adding value by your commentary, Ranjan ji. Appreciate you sharing.