According to research conducted by Dale Carnegie University success in sales is down to three main areas:
a) Knowledge b) Attitude c) Skills and behaviour So for the sake of this article let's assume that your product knowledge and knowledge of your market place is a given.
Attitudes 1) Focus: Sales people are easily distracted, e-mails, laptops, and other distractions prevent us from staying focussed on income-producing activities. Good salespeople put the distractions aside and remain focused on the task at hand.
2) Mental toughness: Sales is notorious is for it's emotional highs and lows. Good sales people learn to accept that there will be set-backs and rejection.
3) Enthusiasm: Often described as the 'The little recognised secret of success. If you are not enthusiastic, your customer won't be. Enthusiasm has to be real and natural rather than forced.
4) Integrity: The days of the 'sales-shark' went out with the nineties. Customers today expect strong values, high levels of integrity and partnerships. The relationship shouldn't t close when the sale closes.
Behaviours:
2006 is the 70th birthday of the world famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People, probably one of the best books ever written on selling. Below are listed some of the key principals from this timeless classic.
5) Be a good listener. Most sales people do too much of the talking and not enough listening. If we listen, we get a much better understanding of our customers needs.
6) Try honestly to see things from the other persons point of view. This is about putting oneself on the other side of the desk and truely seeing things from your buyers perspective.
7) Talk in terms of the other persons interests. Remember that people buy benefits, not features. Just because something is the fastest or the biggest is not enough. People need to know, what will this do for me.
8) Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers. No one likes to be sold to, selling today is much more a consultative process. Good sales people plant seeds, ask questions and learn to steer the conversation to a natural conclusion.
9) Remember and use peoples names. Not only is this good manners it's also great customer service. If you can remember and use people's names it makes them feel important and can be impressive.
10) Dramatise your ideas. In this age of rapid communication and instant information, we need to demonstrate that we can be different. A little showmanship or dramatisation can really make your sales pitch stand-out from the crowd.
Mark Fitzmaurice Dale Carnegie Training UK www.northernengland.dalecarnegie.com
Success in Sales 10 Tips - To learn more about this author, visit Mark Fitzmaurice's Website.
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