The difference between runaway business success and mediocrity often comes down to sales. Yes, you need a great product that uniquely addresses a market need. And marketing dollars are always helpful. The final measurement success is often revenue and profits, which means that building a great sales team should be a priority. Selling starts with building relationships as highlighted below in our top 5 traits of a great salesperson.
1. Relationship Building. Imagine walking into a room of 100 strangers and trying to sell a future, uproven concept. Now imagine walking into a room of 100 of your best friends to try and make the same sale. With the strangers, you need to take time to break the ice, build rappoire and establish credibility. With your friends, you already have a certain level of trust built up so it will greatly accelerate the discussion. As a sales person, your value is directly linked to the value of your network, and your ability to successfully expand your network of influence. ”The ability to establish rapport and maintain rapport is probably the single most powerful skill a salesperson can have,” according to Shamus Brown of Professional Sales Tips. It’s a good indication if you are highly connected via LinkedIn and Facebook, and if you are one of the most recognized figures when you attend a conference or a reunion.
2. Can-Do Attitude. Selling isn’t easy. Golf games and gourmet dinners have their lure, but they are just the night cap of a long work week. Sellers need to have a combination of high energy and out-of-the-box thinking to overcome a constant barrage of challenges and objections. Shamus Brown says, “Great salespeople got that way by always looking for a better way. They are always improving their approach, their techniques, and their attitude.”
3. Great Communicators. When we think of great communicators, Barack Obama often comes to mind for his ability to deliver an inspiring speech. A great presentation will put a “wow” behind your product. For maximum effectiveness, you’ll need to believe in your products, services, and your team. Great communicators have the confidence to showcase their product and continue the dialogue by engaging in a personable, two-way conversation. That means asking questions, understanding and addressing concerns, and showing that you care.
4. Listen To Your Customer. There are often many options in the market all competing for the same dollars. Why is this offer the right one for your audience? How will they make their decision? Based on features, price, peace of mind, a relationship, or other factors? As a salesperson, you need to have great listening skills to pick up on the subtle cues of what they really want. When they say they want a great deal, that could mean price, or it could mean value for their money. To quote Albert Einstein, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
5. Results Focus. The extraordinary sales person is focused on results. True leaders will think like a CEO and have “a finely tuned pulse on what is happening in and outside of your company.” They’ll also have the ability to have a conversation with the CFO and will show keen interest in the executive level dashboard of key business metrics that cut across areas such as finance, operations, suppliers, employees, customers, and suppliers.
Image by Mike Johnson from Stock.Xchng
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Well, you guys got it partly right, but, it’s more basic that what you say. When asked what is the most important trait a sales person can have, 90% of people say “listening” to which I usually reply “well, listening is critically important, but at some point your guy has to talk; because no one ever sold anything simply by listening.
So, bottom line… the most important trait (IMHO) a sales person can have is the ability to hold an intelligent conversation, because if you do that, virtually all those things mentioned above will certainly occur.
Seth Godin may be a great marketing guy (he certainly is great at marketing himself, but, I’ve never found his books particularly helpful) but, he doesn’t know much about sales. It is NOT easier to sell something to a friend than a stranger; rather, that saying should be “it’s much easier selling something to someone who truly needs it to someone who doesn’t.”
The defining characteristic isn’t whether you know them or not, although, one could argue it probably helps, rather, it’s whether you, as the salesperson has properly qualified them or not. Oh, yeah, and how do you do that? By holding an intelligent conversation.
Good selling,
Bob
http://www.bettersellsolutions.com
The relationship-building piece is right on. If you’re able to build strong relationships, selling becomes much easier. As Seth Godin says, it’s much easier to sell something to a friend than a stranger. And if you’re good at building relationships, that implies that you have decent communications and listening skills.