Getting to top in sales

So many salespeople with great potential either drop out or have limited success. Most have good skills, possess the right attitude and want to get ahead. But something holds them back.

What are they missing?

Simply put, they don’t know the rules for getting to the top. Here are seven that will help do the job:

n Do it now. The world has changed and the message for everyone is fast forward. Wells Fargo’s FastFlexsm Small Business Loan program tells the story. Online and funded as quickly as the next business day, there are no meetings with a loan officer, no filling out paperwork, being told “decisions are made locally” or waiting for a response.

- Advertisement -

This is what customers expect. Salespeople stumble because they don’t do it now. They don’t get back to customers quickly, whether it’s responding to a question, solving a problem or getting them promised information. Customers expect it done now, and it’s savvy salespeople who get the message – and the order.

n Hoard time. Only top salespeople grasp that they have only a limited amount of their most important asset: time. It’s not renewable.

So, don’t let distractions rob you of your time. The worst of these is assuming that every prospect can become a customer by working hard enough. That’s total nonsense.

A prospect analysis answers two questions: Who are my best customers? Why do I like working with them? Go after similar prospects and pass on the rest.

n Corral optimism. Plain and simple, a positive attitude keeps us going. Selling takes tons of optimism to get past ever-present rejections. But optimism is not without a dangerous downside: It can get in our way so we only see what we want to see.

Knowing how to put optimism to work can transform hope into goals, including making sales a reality. And, as you might guess, there’s a WOOP app that can help and it’s free.

n Talk less. Salespeople talk too much. What’s even worse, their words are mostly automatic. Press their button and out comes the same blather every time. It makes no difference who the customer may be, the words are always the same. It’s like a doctor prescribing the same pill for every patient.

Customers know what they’re getting when they hear nothing but tattered scripts from the mouths of salespeople. It’s so easy to fall into a pattern of talking about what we’re selling. It’s as if the customer isn’t even there. Instead of engaging prospects, endless words drive them away confused.

n Simplify. The best salespeople make it easy for customers to get their message. That’s what Mazda does with the tagline, “Confident driving is better driving.” It works because it’s Mazda in a nutshell. Once a customer sees that picture, there’s time to fill in the specifics and give meaning to the picture. But without the picture, the details are just more stuff.

n Brand yourself. Just because someone says you’re a great salesperson or your resume boasts of sales records and awards, it’s not enough. All that’s not enough to set you apart as unique – as one of a kind.

There’s a reason why Cheerios is the No. 1 cereal: It’s branded. Eating Cheerios is good for your heart. To take control of your career, think branding, personal branding.

How do you want to be thought of as a salesperson? In other words, what’s your brand?

n Put the past aside. Salespeople can be betrayed by their own words. Their braggadocio puts the spotlight on them instead of the customer, on the past instead of the present moment, and on the useless instead of what’s important. Rather than helping to gain sales, it ends in losing customers. •

John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategy consultant and business writer. He can be reached at johnrgraham.com.

No posts to display