Tweet

The Single Most Important Trait Within Salespeople

Guest post by: Alex Pirouz

Article Overview: It’s surprising that there are so many sales people these days selling products without first building rapport. They are missing the first and most important step required when selling a product or service which is costing organisations heavily, with the loss of revenue and decrease in repeat business.

The Single Most Important Trait Within Salespeople

Rapport is a relationship between two or more parties, especially one of mutual trust, or emotional affinity. Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of subconscious communication. It is commonality of perspective: being "in sync" with, or being "on the same wavelength" as the person with whom you are talking.

Rapport in sales is EVERYTHING. Without feeling the respect and trust that comes from rapport, the rest of the conversation and relationship will have little impact. We live in a world where we are hit with thousands of ads per day; the last thing people want is to be sold.

In this day and age the average consumer does not have time to shop around. The only reason they won’t buy from you is because they had no rapport, and therefore did not trust you enough to hand over their money or their time.

Let’s go ahead now and do a quick test to see where you are on the rapport scale. Answer each question below truthfully with a simple YES or NO. Try not to dwell on the questions, as your first and instinctive response is probably the most accurate!

QUESTION YES/NO

1. Are the majority of people you meet pleased to see you?
2. Do your social groups say they miss you when you are not around?
3. Do you find it easy to communicate with people you have just met?
4. Do people turn to you for help?
5. Do people find you approachable?
6. Do people immediately understand what you say and mean?
7. Do you usually get your own way?
8. Do people willingly do what you ask of them?
9. Do you have a wide and varied circle of friends?
10. Do you have an even wider set of acquaintances?
11. Would you describe yourself as persuasive?
12. Do people readily accept your ideas?
13. Are you able to remove the heat from an argument?
14. At meetings, are you usually invited to contribute your arguments?
15. Do you find it easy to sustain eye contact with someone?

If you answered YES to more than half of these questions, you already have a good, instinctive sense of rapport. If you answered NO to more than half of these questions, you may need a greater conscious awareness of the importance and relevance of rapport in building relationships with people.

Always approach your customers with a mindset of ‘what’s in it for them’, and follow that up by finding out how you can be of service to them, so that they feel like they have bought rather than be sold.

Related Articles
  “The Top Ten Traits Of A MVP (Most Valued Professional) Business Coach”
  Getting Excited About Sales Metrics
  How Many Salespeople Shouldn't Be in Sales
  Happy Ears or an Empty Pipeline?
  The CEO Who Needed to Hire Salespeople
  Manage Your Salespeople by Working Smart, More Stack Rankings
  Do I have what it takes to succeed with a home based business?
  Position Yourself as a Leader
  TEN MVP (MOST VALUABLE PERSONAL) TRAITS OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENUERS
  Reality Modifier Exercise
  Everyone has a plan. Some plans are better than others because they contain all or most of the necessary steps and sequence them in an appropriate order. Most plans have gaps where steps should be and the sequence doesn't lend itself to success. One area where we see this occur repeatedly is when companies are about to hire a Sales VP or Director AND
  The Enemy in Sales
  Your Salespeople Can't Even Do That?
  New Metrics for the Sales Force - Unusual Thoughts for Unusual Times
  Do You Need Your Salespeople to Love and Respect You?
  Why Corporate Sales Training Often Fails to Deliver Results
  The Pros and Cons of Hiring Green Salespeople
  Stress-Free Selling® - Close Three Times Faster
  Right Salespeople in the Right Roles and the Right Seats
  There Is No Magic Answer In Selling

Article Tags: advisory, Alex Pirouz, Building A Business, business, Business Advice, Business Consultant, Business Sales, Business Strategy, cash, Consultant, Entreprenuer, increase, Internet, Lead conversion, Leads, Making Money, Marketing Strategies, online, online business, Online Sales, performance, revenue, sales, Sales Expert, Sales Force, Sales Leads, Sales Secrets, Sales Team, Sales Training, Strategy, Tele Sales



Related Forum Posts
Re: What works for you? - Hi Yinka, I work better under pressure of deadlines when I am doing something for other people. However, I like to have the leisure to develop my own projects. The first case is what Stephen Covey calls a "Quadrant 1" activity ("Important and urgent") whereas the second case is a "Quadrant 2" activity ("Important, not urgent"). We should aim to make as much time as possible for Q2 activities so that we can develop our own projects. Easier said than done!
Import / Export Business - I am in the benign stages of starting an import/export business and would like to know the most important factors in the early stages of the business. 1)The most secure method conduct financial transactions 2)Important issues with development of a website?
It’s enssential - Advertising is essential whether you advertise in big scale or small. Having a signage outside your store or office is already advertising. If you can't afford to advertise in newspapers or radio, you can try giving out flyers and brochures. Do email blasts. Have a blog or website. Send SMS or text messages to friends and relatives so they can pass it on to other friends. There are several ways in promoting and advertising your product without really spending so much. Important thing is, you should always let people know you exist. As the saying goes "A business with no sign is a sign of no business"
She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Rules Every Businesswo - She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Rules Every Businesswoman Needs to Know Gail Evans, 2003 Also author of Play Like A Man, Win Like A Woman Inside jacket: Every time a woman succeeds in business, every other woman's chances of succeeding in business increase. Every time a woman fails in business, every other woman's chances of failure increases. Gail realized that one of the most important elements of the men's game, which was missing from the women's, was support: The boys know how to take care of one another. In order to create lasting success, women need to help one another and band together as a team. TOC The Woman's Team Why you must play on the woman's team How to join the team Tips for the team 1. Be a mentor 2. Rainmake 3. Uncover and share information 4. Keep quiet 5. Unite with all women at all times 6. Make team-related choices 7. Weave a female web Challenges of the Team Twelve team members to watch out for The eleven most common team questions (and answers) Conclusions Acknowledgements My own view Haven't read this yet, but it seems like she's advocating an "Us against them" mentality. Neverthless, networking with fellow women - and men! - only makes good sense.
How To Build Great Pillar Content For Your Internet Business - I’ve found that a successful Internet businesses must start with a solid foundation. As I’ve seen, most Internet businesses will integrate a blog onto their website and start to build a solid foundation of pillar content. Pillar content or pillar articles are posts that are written to help a consumer establish what your Internet business is all about. What Is Pillar Content? This termed was first coined by a famous blogger called Yaro Starak at his website Entrepreneur’s Journey. Yaro provides the following detailed definition: “A pillar is blog content, usually an article, which does some very important things: * It will bring in a rush of new readers and backlinks (other sites linking to your blog). * It will continue to bring in more readers over time as you and other people refer to it, even though it may be buried in the archives of your blog. * Eventually it will bring in traffic from search engines (this is largely because so many other web pages link to it). * You can list it in a separate area (like an articles page) with all your other pillars so your best content can easily be accessed and your value clearly demonstrated. * It is not time dependent, so in twelve months’ time it will still be relevant and popular.” Why Is Pillar Content Important? Looking at the bigger picture, pillar content is your foundation of your Internet business as it will continue to bring consumers and readers to your website. You may think that just having a product or service to sell is all that’s needed to run a successful business. Not quite so. Consumers today are very hungry for information and want to know more about your business. Therefore providing pillar content relating to your products or services can add value for your consumers and generate more sales for you. For example, if I were selling a watch online and it had a description and listed features, it may not be enough for a consumer to purchase the watch from my site. Reason being, most people would want to read reviews from others who have purchased this watch and see their feedback. What if I wrote an article about the watch talking about the history and make of it and asked an expert to state their opinion, and had other consumers respond with comments and feedback. Then this would provide social proof and adds value to your product without the consumer leaving your site and spending time looking for more information elsewhere. Examples Of Pillar Content Most pillar content articles are longer than 500 words and have lots of practical tips or advice. There are many different forms of pillar content you can create and I have listed some examples below for you to apply to your industry: 1. How To Article - shows people how to do a certain task or instructions on building something 2. Definition Article - defines a term in your industry 3. Present A Theory Or Argument - writing to present some unique thought 4. Release A Significant Resource - a report, podcast, video 5. A “List” Article - it’s very easy to scan and share. Can be a top 10 list or action points 6. Technical Or Visual Guide - a screen capture presentation or how to fix something using a video presentation. It is also a very detailed step by step blueprint on exactly how to complete a task. Pillars I’ve seen how effective pillar content can be for any Internet business and I recommend you have at least 10 pillar articles on your website before marketing to consumers. That way you’ll provide them with something valuable to read and also gain their interest to come back again. If you can write an article each day using the above examples, then you can build a very strong foundation for your Internet business. Tyrone Shum Pillar Article Writer


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Effective Leadership

Ready for a Fresh Image?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.