“Sales is the lifeblood of any organization.” You don’t have to like it, but sales is one of the essential skills and actions entrepreneurs need to have successful ventures. While a lot of people shy away from sales, we want to know from those selling machines, what characteristics make up a great salesperson.
Q: What Makes Up a Great Salesperson?
The Ability to Listen
A great salesperson can listen — she can sit and hear what a customer really needs, rather than just trying to sell any product she has in front of her. When a salesperson listens, however, she can fit the offer to the customer’s needs. That makes it easier to sell, as well as guarantees a happier customer.
Thanks to Thursday Bram!
Authenticity
Be authentic and believe in what you do. Like one of my clients said “You have to breathe the work you are promoting”. Stay in integrity with your values as well as your company’s values and you will naturally magnetize to you the clients that are happy to work with you.
Thanks to Marilyn Rodriguez!
http://www.authenticlifetraining.com/
Caring More
They CARE more… They care more about themselves and they care more about the buyer. Instead of paying for lead lists, sending more marketing newsletters, or leveraging social media to the max, superstar salespeople catapult their success by creating personalized and powerfully empathetic encounters with existing customers. They go the extra marathon at any chance to solve problems customers didn’t even know existed. They aren’t just generating leads, they’re manufacturing future customers.
Thanks to Dan Waldschmidt!
http://www.danwaldschmidt.com/
Being Able To Pay Attention To Clues
A great salesperson can hear trepidation in the customer’s voice or read it in their body language. Is it the price that is potentially turning them off? Are they leery of the shipping date? Are they unsure if they are selecting the right company for their business? Picking up on these clues, a great salesperson can nip these fears and worries right in the bud and get to close the deal. They have a tool bag full of offers, promotions and even anecdotes to get through any misgiving thrown at them.
Thanks to Brina Bujkovsky!
Be Remarkable…and Weird
If you want to be a good salesperson, just be weird. When people say the salespeople are those who are passionate about their work, I feel that’s not so much a tip, it should be part for the course. Be weird. Everyone loves someone and something interesting. Who can forget someone with a Mohawk or a fun story to share? It’s about being remarkable. Both in your product, and in your presence.
Thanks to Walt Ribeiro!
The Ability to Mirror Back
Great salespeople have the ability to “mirror back” what is being said to them in a way the prospect/customer/client can understand. While the salesperson doesn’t need to be “technical” they need to be able to understand what and how something is being said and “mirror back” to the person saying it.
Thanks to Andy LaPointe!
Passion & the Ability to Educate
I think passion makes a great salesperson. They love their product, the company (themselves!) and get up every morning excited about who they will meet and what they will learn. Personally, I think a great salesperson is really just an educator who sits down with a prospects and explains how the product solves a problem. I don’t set out to sell, I set out to educate, if I make a sale all the better.
Thanks to Teajai Stradley!
http://www.internetideagirl.com/
Responding…rapidly
My key to success is rapidly responding to clients and referral sources. I’ve found the not all successful salespeople have this “sense of urgency” but all salespeople that behave this way are successful. Have I have not found any other activity that seems to “guarantee” long-term success.
Thanks to Noah B. Rosenfarb!
Perseverance
Perseverance without being obnoxious. Until someone says “don’t call me anymore,” you have to keep calling. Explain your product or service differently each time. Give an example. At some point it really will click and the potential customer can make an EDUCATED decision, not one based on what the client thinks you are saying. So being persistent and re-presenting the concept until it clicks is the sign of a great salesperson.
Thanks to Catherine Cohen!
Relationship Building
Sales is about relationship building. Pure and simple. You have to build a relationship with your customer before asking them to spend a single cent with you. The profession of sales gets a bad rap because everyone immediately thinks of their local dishonest used car dealer. The rest of us who rely on selling anything for a living would completely fall on our faces if we did that. You have to care about your customers, be interested in them as people, and genuinely want to be part of making them successful. Only then can you do business, and even then it should be as two friends working out a mutually beneficial deal. Relationships where one side is extorting the other don’t last. I hope that helps. Everyone wants a “magic bullet” when it comes to sales. There isn’t one. Building relationships is hard and requires sacrifice on your part. Without it though, you can’t build a sustainable business.
Thanks to Shizzle Dizzle Magic!