Someone recently asked me, “Mike, you’ve been selling all your life. Tell me, what’s the secret to becoming a top performer?”
This got me thinking about whether I could distil the many elements
of sales success down to 20 key principles. I thought about the habits
of the super salespeople I’ve known over the years and came up with this
list. Adopt one of these habits each day for the next 20 days, and you
too could be a top performer.
1. Start and finish the day positively. Top
performers are on their A-game from when they wake up until they leave
the last prospect, or customer, of the day. Being positive makes your
prospect positive — about buying.
2. Be an enthusiast. People are drawn to
enthusiastic people. Genuine enthusiasm is catching; it’s like a tidal
wave that will carry your prospect along to the sale.
3. Plan every call. Understand what you expect out
of each interaction with a prospect. Consider whether the objective is
to get the sale today, or whether this is a step along the way to a
sale.
4. Use the power of knowledge. If enthusiasm is
catching, so is someone who truly knows stuff. We are drawn to people
who possess knowledge about something we are interested in, whether it’s
a particular sport, art, food, or, more importantly, something we are
considering purchasing. Become an expert in what you sell, the industry
behind it, and the market you are selling to.
5. Demonstrate your expertise. Find opportunities to
show people that you’re an expert. Offer free seminars to prospects or
existing customers; produce a newsletter or write a book; record a
podcast, or create a Facebook page. Whatever you do, become the guru in
your field and people will find their way to you and buy what you sell.
6. Research interesting anecdotes, information, and jokes.
I often get e-mail from friends, business acquaintances, and others
that contain jokes and other useless detritus, but occasionally a
snippet of fascinating information appears. When this happens, I am
grateful to the person who sent it, because they are making me look good
in the eyes of the people with whom I in turn share it. This is why
jokes have been a staple of top performers since the dawn of selling.
7. Spend more time prospecting for companies and people that need, want, and can afford what you are selling.
Don’t waste your valuable time and energy selling to people who are not
highly likely to buy. Think long and hard about your target market. Top
performers spend less time with prospects than the average salesperson
because they have pre-qualified them.
8. Set yourself goals and targets. Super salespeople
don’t wait for their sales managers to give them targets; they set
their own. It’s a winning habit to set yourself targets based on the
number of leads generated, calls per day, appointments made,
presentations made, and sales achieved. If you can measure success by it
— target it!
9. Identify your prospect’s behavioural style within 60 seconds.
One of the keys to successful selling is to become a chameleon. We can
all sell to people who have the same personality as ourselves; the trick
to super sales is to relate well to people unlike you, or even with the
opposite personality or social style.
10. Sell yourself first. Once you recognize the
prospect’s behavioural style, it’s a whole lot easier to react to them
in a way that will make them feel comfortable. The key to selling to
anyone is the ability to make them like you. People don’t buy from
people they don’t like — it’s that simple.
11. Ensure you are selling to the right person. This
is a rookie mistake that happens all the time. Salespeople home in on
people that look easy to sell to and spend inordinate amounts of time
trying to convince them to purchase something. Before you waste any time
on a potential prospect, spend a few minutes talking to them. Discover
whether he or she is a bona fide prospect. The quicker you discover they
aren’t, the quicker you can start selling to someone who is
12. Track your sales progress. Every day, assess how
well you are doing in moving toward your goals. Motivation comes from
seeing that you are exceeding them, and when you’re not you’ll know you
need to pull your finger out, pronto
13. Learn to love objections. Poor salespeople avoid
objections as if they are bad. Top performers not only welcome them,
they dig for them. As long as there is an unspoken objection, you won’t
get the sale. Get into the habit of listing all the objections people
might have for not buying what you sell and come up with answers. That
way, when an objection arises you have the answer ready at hand.
14. Probe, clarify effectively, and listen.
Constantly ask questions to make sure the prospect is hearing, and
understanding, what you are telling them and clarify any
misunderstandings.
15. Use interesting presentation materials. The more
involved your customers are with your presentation, the more likely
they are to buy. Use samples, demonstrations, colourful sales
literature, or whatever is relevant to your product or service to
generate interest and excitement.
16. Keep extensive notes. Top sales performers know
their customers’ birthdays, children’s names, hobbies, likes and
dislikes, and anything else that will help build a relationship with
them.
17. Use trial closes. Get into the habit of asking
prospects if they like aspects of what you are selling. This will
provide an indication as to whether they are leaning toward purchasing,
or highlight potential objections.
18. Ask for the sale every time. This is probably
the oldest piece of advice out there, but at the end of the day, more
sales are lost simply because no one asked for the order. Come up with
several phrases that you feel comfortable with, such as, “So, delivery
next week is OK for you?” or, “OK, so let’s write this up.” In my
experience, this type of close is the most effective and easiest to
employ.
19. Evaluate every call. Remember sales targets and
goals, and tracking your progress? Well, it’s not just about the
numbers: after every sales interaction, carry out a postmortem and look
at what went well and what could be improved.
20. Follow up every call. Following up after a call
is not just polite, it’s good business practice. It’s far less expensive
and takes a whole lot less time and effort to sell to an existing
customer than to try to find a new one. Start building relationships by
following up each sale and then regularly thereafter.
Written by Mike Wicks for Douglas Magazine.
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