This was originally published on The Success Bug website by Sean Murphy, ’19 VPA CRS. Click here to subscribe to The Success Bug.
Sales. You either love it or hate it as there isn’t any in-between. For a lot of recent college graduates having difficulty finding full-time opportunities in their major, a sales job offers real experience and, more importantly, the chance to make money. Whether its selling cars, tech software, or even door to door sales, all salespeople rely on a few simple keys to sales success.
Have a Positive Mindset
If you show up your first day doubting your abilities, then you’re doomed from the start. Having an open mind and a positive attitude can go a long way in achieving results. The word that you’ll often hear throughout your sales career is, “no” and sometimes that’s the best response to get. Not all the clients you work with will be a good fit for your business so you shouldn’t expect all clients to say yes.
Listen
Most people assume that to be successful in sales you need to be a fast-talker and persuasive. While it’s true that articulating the right words is important to sway your client one way, the best salespeople listen to their client’s needs. If you’re on a call with a lead, don’t jump into your pitch and rant about what services are offered. Instead, get to know the client and their pain points and use that as a roadmap for the rest of the meeting.
Ask Questions
Don’t hesitate to ask questions. If you’re not sure whether to draft your own cold outbound emails or use an email template ask your team lead or a fellow colleague. Although at the end of the day sales is an individual career there’s a reason your apart of a sales team.
In due time all salespeople develop what works for them and what doesn’t. In the meantime ask to sit-in and shadow meetings from the top-selling representatives on the floor. The best salespeople will take tips and tricks from other reps and incorporate this into their own style.
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Research
What’s the worst thing that can happen to a salesperson? You dial into your meeting with an interested client, and you forget what the company does or to whom you’re speaking with. It’s critical in sales to know your clients inside and out to have a successful pitch. Preparing for all the potential questions a prospect might have will give you the confidence needed to have a great sales call.
Organization
A salesperson that doesn’t have multiple folders in their outlook email or doesn’t have their calendar color-coded will not succeed. It is challenging to keep track of your book of business, espicially during peak times of the year like Black Friday and Christmas.
Imagine if your manager approaches you and asks for the rundown with that client meeting you had last week? If your excel sheet were cataloged correctly, then you’d be able to tell your team lead that the client is sending over the contract via DocuSign tomorrow. If you want more help with organizing your work life, check out Entrepreneur’s slideshow for real-life examples.
Effort
As you may have picked up on, hard work and effort are quintessential for any successful salesman. Although, indeed, luck is often intertwined with sales, more than anything sales are about effort.
The salespeople that practice their elevator pitch during lunch and go the extra mile are continuously the ones that smash their quota. If at the end of the quarter you’re unsure why you came up short, reflect on the effort that was put in.
Be Prepared To Grind
To say that sales are a grind is an understatement. Even when you think you’re ahead, you always worry that you may fall behind. While the “first one in and last one out” mentality is great to have, it can also be hard and physically exhausting. Therefore, remember that one of the keys to sales success is to enjoy yourself. Make sure that you have a life outside the office and always make time for friends and family. The best salespeople have the perfect work/life balance down to a science.
Key Takeaways
An open mindset is necessary to succeed in any job, especially sales. If you show up on day one already counting yourself out, then you won’t be willing to listen, you won’t be ready to put in the effort, and most of all, you won’t succeed. The goal of this article is to offer insight into the keys to sales success that should result in jumpstarting one’s career in sales.
While it’s true that sales are not for everyone one thing is for certain. If at the end of your sales tenure you can confidently tell yourself that you had a positive mindset throughout, then that gratifying feeling of self-reward cannot be overlooked.
This was originally published on The Success Bug website by Sean Murphy, ’19 VPA CRS. Click here to subscribe to The Success Bug.