Ten Steps to Sales Greatness
1) Do what the top salespeople do.
This is arguably the most obvious, most basic, and most important step to becoming a top salesperson. It’s simple: If you take the same actions as the top salespeople, you will eventually also be a top salesperson. If you do the same things as a mediocre salesperson, you will be a mediocre salesperson. Find the top salespeople in your company and pick their brains. In addition to top salespeople in your company, get advice from top salespeople in other industries.
2) Learn everything you possibly can about the subject of selling.
Read, listen to programs, watch videos, and study everything you can get your hands on that relates to selling. Whether you are new to sales, or you’ve been in sales for a while, there are always new ideas coming out on handling objections, cold calling, and all other aspects of selling. Be a sponge and absorb as much information as you can. Be open and curious and realize that no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn.
3) Learn everything you can about your industry and your prospects.
Read industry publications, newsletters, magazines, and the like. Pay attention to on-line sources along with “local” sources such as newspapers, Chamber of Commerce letters, and other news in the geographic proximity of the companies you’re interested in. Look for breaking news, new products, new laws, regulations, or changes in legislation, interesting articles, stories on people making an impact in the industry, and other pertinent information. Stay on top of the latest innovations and technology within your industry. Study the companies and individuals to whom you’re selling. Obtain annual reports, look in Who’s Who, and tap the Internet and company websites for information. Information is power. The more information you have on selling, on the industry you’re in, and on the people to whom you’re selling, the more confident and successful you’ll be.
4) Work on yourself.
To be a top salesperson, you must constantly improve personally as well as professionally. Make it a habit to think positive and stay motivated by using books and audio and video programs. Put as much positive information into your brain as you can and keep negatives out. Hang out with the right people, people who are getting better and moving forward. In order to stay motivated in the long term, you need to be growing and improving. You must be working toward something that is meaningful to you. Your highest values and ideals must be reflected in your daily life. Discover what you ultimately want to do with your life and what you have a passion for. How does your present job serve as a stepping stone to get to the place you ultimately want to be?
5) Set goals.
Goals give you direction. Your goals can be as simple as doing 120 percent of quota and making the annual awards trip, or as complex as a list of daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals in all the major areas of your life. Some people find a complete list of complex goals overwhelming. If this is the case, simply set one or two major goals at a time. Make sure your goals inspire and motivate you. Your goals must be clear, measurable, and believable. “More cold calls” isn’t measurable. “Ten percent more cold calls” is.
Note: While it’s nice to have material goals, it is more important to have goals in which you become something. “Becoming” goals such as becoming more self-confident, creative, or knowledgeable in a certain field do much more for your happiness, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Yes, becoming more self-confident will give you even more self-confidence. These qualities build upon themselves.
6) Look for new sales ideas and use them as soon as possible.
Find new ideas in books, audio programs, seminars and in other salespeople. Take sayings, closes, and other new information you like and make them your own. Practice them on other salespeople, family members, friends, and practice them on yourself. Most important, once you’ve mastered them privately, look for places to use these new ideas in real-world selling situations.
7) Review motivational and educational information often.
Actively listening to audio programs while taking notes is the optimal way to learn. However, this is not always possible, and when it’s not, passive listening in the car or elsewhere will also work well. To absorb the audio programs through passive listening, listen to them sixteen times. To retain them after the 16 times, listen to them once a month. With books and other written material, read them, take notes, highlight sections, flag pages, and then review your notes and highlighted sections sixteen times. With videos, watch them, take notes, and then review. Again, you also want to be looking for ways to apply the new information you’re learning. Continually look for new material on selling and motivation, while also reviewing resources you’ve already studied. As you need help in particular areas, you can return to several resources and get different ideas.
8) Work hard and smart.
Obviously if you’re given a choice, it’s much better to work smarter than harder. At the same time, when you are just starting out and don’t know anything about the business, you simply must work hard until you figure things out. But even in the beginning, there are some basic rules you can follow that will ensure you get the most out of your hard work and understand things as quickly as possible. They are: one: do what the top people do, as discussed, two: make more calls than everyone else, three: be persistent, and four: use your time effectively.
John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker and trainer. For his free newsletter, or to have him speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 32 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. You can reprint provided you keep contact information in place. E-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
