Look! It's a man! It's a woman! No, it's
Supersalesperson-that individual who leaps sales quotas with a
single bound, stops customer complaints faster than a speeding
bullet and is more powerful than 10 salespeople put together. Of
Messianic stature, Supersalesperson is the deliverer of the
capitalist's promised land and the paradigm against whom all
are judged.
Alas, this superhero is but a fancy. Yet at rare moments we see
a glimmer of Supersalesperson inside those who, by luck and pluck,
possess a generous portion of the qualities we attribute to the
fantastically great. They may flow, as does the sales pitch. We see
them radiate from an employee's open eyes and in the head
tilted toward us, listening ever so closely. But when all is said
and done, the power of greatness comes not from sight, speech or
attentiveness. Rather, it emanates from the mind and heart, giving
the salesperson an insatiable appetite to learn. And it's this
appetite that feeds the remaining characteristics, ultimately
shaping success.
Mind Over Matter
Sales superiority starts in the mind. "The supersalesperson
possesses a propensity for personal growth," says Rick Sapio,
founder and CEO of Mutuals.com Inc., a New York City holdings
company that sells mutual funds to investors. Sales superheroes
hunger for knowledge about themselves, their customers and their
products-as well as the products and services of competitors, adds
Sapio, a former broker.
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"They're achievement-oriented," agrees Sean
Magennis, founder and CEO of Thomas International USA Inc., a sales
and marketing consulting company in Dallas. Every sale has a
learning objective-determining what was done well or poorly."
Failure becomes an opportunity to learn. Instead of blocking
failure, supersalespeople examine it objectively, thereby
inhibiting the spiral of self-doubt that many salespeople fall
into. And, says Magennis, "A supersalesperson reads, takes
courses, keeps a journal, writes down professional goals and
listens to tapes of sales calls. He or she mimics top performers
and develops a relationship with a mentor."
Supersalespeople are competitive, and competitive people yearn
to better themselves to improve the quality of their work. Their
knowledge of the process exceeds that of any sales consultant, adds
Tim Riley, founder and CEO of Door to Door Storage Inc., who
launched his Seattle-based storage business by selling storage
space to businesses and individuals throughout the West Coast.
"They understand the business, its products and the
business's potential products," agrees Daniel Turner,
founder and president of Turner Consulting Group Inc., a sales and
marketing consulting firm in Washington, DC. "The right
[creative] side of the brain helps the salesperson figure out how
to describe the business so the client understands it. The left
[analytical] side helps the salesperson pitch the business so the
sale makes sense monetarily."
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