The 14 virtues of the salesman
Most people think Sales is just hard work and requires determination and persistence, which is true but you need more than these:
1. Be able to qualify your leads
Not all possible interested people are leads.
The better you take care and the more time you invest in the qualification of your leads, the less time you will be wasting during the sales processes. You want sales processes that become sales.
2. Be able to shut up
Listen before you pitch to their problems and the picture they paint of their company or business.
Then have your pitch, have your presentation and then shut up.
Anything that you tell more can be used against you in the sales process before signing the deal.
3. Have patience
Have patience. Take your time. let the potential customer speak.
Stay calm in whatever situation.
4. Be confident – look confident
If you aren’t confident, you will not win deals.
Don’t hesitate when you answer questions.
Don’t give complex explications: give clear answers that people understand.
Your confidence will give and build trust.
5. Be able to argue without getting into a fight
You can argue and you can bring good facts to the table, but in the end the customer is (almost) always right.
Discuss when and where needed, but don’t try to win the discussion. The winning is in the closing of the deal.
6. Be a networking genius
The more people who know you, the more likelihood to encounter or hearing about a deal or having a deal proposed to you as they know you.
If you are a nobody, nobody will know you or like you.
7. Be capable of change social class
If you want to sell to the CEO, then speak and think like a CEO else he won’t buy from you.
If you are selling to the divisional manager, then be and think like the divisional manager in order to make him buy from you.
The salesman needs to be capable of changing social class although he is only working as an employee at a company.
8. Be humble but don’t obey
You have to be humble, but never ever get on your knees for getting the deal. Never obey.
For a start you have given the impression to have the same status as your potential customer having the same level in the management hierarchy.
Then you cannot get on your knees.
Still you need to be humble about your achievements.
9. Don’t complain – be positive
If you think negatively and complain about the company, the society, the world you will leave a negative impression behind. Nobody is really interested in your problems.
Your customer can be negative, let them be. Still that will not help your sales.
Think positively – make them start thinking positively too: that will help your sales process.
10. Enthusiasm
It is important to be genuinely enthusiastic about your company and products.
And about the world and business in general.
11. Reach out to help
If you notice a problem you can help solving based on your experience or advice, then give it for free.
If it works out it is likely the decision maker will be grateful to you.
Just make sure you give the advice only to high ranked decision makers as they will not see you as a threat.
12. Have high expectations
Have high expectations about yourself, your company, your products, your customers and even your potential customers.
When you enter a sales meeting you need to have the high expectation of being successful and moving towards closing the deal soon.
13. Overcome rejections
In Sales you will have quite often rejections:
- Cold calls
- Canceled meetings for dubious reasons
- Not buying after a long sales process
Sales people need to overcome rejections quickly as the next opportunity knocks on the door or needs to get found.
If a salesman doesn’t overcome a rejection quickly, he will not succeed in convincing the next potential customer.
14. Be lucky
As always luck needs to be on your side.
What do you have a virtue helping you sell?
[...] Still these desperate attempts will hardly work as the salesman will start looking less confident. Being desperate is the worst that can happen for a salesman as he starts doubting about himself: his skills, his personality, his communication capabilities, his (14) virtues. [...]
[...] process, but sometimes you need something more to gain that edge over our competition. Here’s 14 virtues to add to your salesmanship tool [...]
[...] Still these desperate attempts will hardly work as the salesman will start looking less confident. Being desperate is the worst that can happen for a salesman as he starts doubting about himself: his skills, his personality, his communication capabilities, his (14) virtues. [...]
Confidence seems to be the most important tool inside a salesman’s bag of tools. Without confidence, a salesman won’t be able to sell anything. So if I had a chance to rearrange the ranking, I’d put confidence at the top of the list. Number two would be the ability to shut up and listen. When you listen, you heard the customer’s needs and can offer your product or service as a solution.
[...] The grass is always greener on the other side: not in sales Although the grass seems always greener on the other side: – The products when needed: get commissions as one can sell – Better customers: not complaining or just easier – More revenue: more commissions – Higher margins: higher commissions – Recurring customers: continuous commissions – Growing customers: increasing commissions More commission means a better life for the Salesman. [...]
[...] Although the grass seems always greener on the other side: – The products when needed: get commissions as one can sell – Better customers: not complaining or just easier – More revenue: more commissions – Higher margins: higher commissions – Recurring customers: continuous commissions – Growing customers: increasing commissions More commission means a better life for the Salesman. [...]
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