Put a group of sales champions in a room, and what do you find?
You find salespeople of all shapes, sizes, temperaments and styles
of selling. Some are more aggressive than others. Some are more
consultative. Some are highly educated, some not so. So how do you
know they're champs? Because they're the ones who
consistently build the business, keep the territory and retain
their customers. And they share these five traits:
1. Attitude: Attitude makes
all the difference. A particular situation may get a sales champ
down, but she will not let it take her out of the game. If sales
champs can't get to a difficult prospect today, they make a
long-term plan to keep trying to make contact over the next six
months to a year. If a great deal falls through, they study what
went wrong and improve their approach for the next time. If they
can't change a situation, they change their attitude about it.
They won't allow the world to defeat them.
2. Urgency: Sales champs
have a great ability to look at a list of tasks and set their
priorities. They don't just say "I have to make some calls
today." Their greatest desire is to keep things moving forward
and end each day with a sense of accomplishment. They generate
massive activity and get results.
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Urgency fuels activity. If something is urgent, you must act. In
sales, you've got to make things happen, and the best
salespeople can't wait to get started every day.
3. Tenacity: When sales
champs know they have something of value for a prospect or client,
they do not give up. If at first they don't succeed, they
really do try again and again. They learn about the situation, the
potential customer and the customer's company. They come back
with new ideas and are not easily defeated.
This trait alone guarantees you will be successful, if you learn
and get smarter each time you come back. When prospects see how
tenacious you are— much you believe in your vision and your
desire to help them reach their goals—, too, will get
enthusiastic about what you have to offer.
4. Understanding: Sales
champions understand their environment, customers, industry and
competition. They do their homework. They put together the big
picture that allows them to take smart, calculated action. They
stay in a questioning mode. After every action, they ask "What
is this telling me?" "What do I need to do
differently?" They understand that change is sometimes
necessary. No matter how many times you throw yourself against a
locked steel door, it won't open. You may, however, be able to
break through a nearby window. Sales champs understand when
they're wasting time and when it's time to move on to the
next tactic or even the next sale.
5. Follow-through: To a
customer, there's nothing worse than a broken promise. It's
a loss of trust that's extremely difficult to regain. Sales
champs do not make promises they can't keep. They are
realistic. They don't try to be everything to everybody. But
once they give their word, they make a commitment and stick to
it.
Does a sales champ exhibit all these traits all the time? Of
course not. Sales champs are human beings, with the same flaws and
failings as everyone else. But they know that in the end, the
harder they work at sharpening these traits, the better these
traits will work for them.
Top-rated sales, management and motivation speaker Barry Farber is author of
Superstar Sales Secrets and Diamond Power.