In a recent Gallup survey of professional business integrity and ethics, auto and insurance salespeople ranked at the bottom of the list. Of course, you may not be surprised to hear this, it is interesting to know that according to the research conducted in the Brooks Group Institute, more than 85% of customers are pessimistic about sellers!
But there is probably no profession more competitive and potentially more lucrative than sales. Of course, selling is not an easy task and requires a lot of time and energy to meet the unique expectations of each customer and it can be very tiring for people. To achieve significant success in professional sales, continuous learning and performance development and the identification and implementation of best practices in all aspects of the business are required.
This article mentions habits for successful professional sales:
- Instead of “How can I sell?” Ask yourself, “How can I help?” Super-professional salespeople differentiate themselves from average salespeople by the way they view the customer. Usually, average salespeople say to themselves during customer interaction: “If I can sell something to this customer today, I’ve achieved my sales goal for this month!”, instead, super professional salespeople have a slightly illogical and different approach. “How can I help this customer?” they ask. And of course, this point of view is quickly revealed to the customer, and this simple change can provide the basis for a long-term cooperation.
- Try to ask more questions and listen carefully to the customer. One of the common mistakes of ordinary sellers is that they think that they know the customer’s needs and have a ready-made product in their pocket! These people are still concerned with the question “How can I sell to the customer?” are. This superficial approach causes the customer to spend their time and money elsewhere, but highly professional salespeople always ask the customer a series of smart questions and then listen carefully and analyze the answers. They know very well how to help the customer and provide him with the best and most valuable solution possible.
- Be flexible and creative. It is said that most customers don’t buy products, they buy solutions. This is where typical salespeople fail because their main focus is on selling a product or service. On the other hand, super professional sellers adjust their solutions to customer needs. Remember, you can position your product or service as part of a larger solution that appeals to the customer. Never hesitate to explore ideas outside the usual frameworks to provide solutions to clients.
- Communicate with the client organization. In the traditional sales process, the salesperson’s focus is on identifying the key decision makers in the customer’s organization and making a proposal to them. Obviously, selling to a decision maker without any support is difficult. But if you can establish a proper relationship with the customer within the organization, you will be able to gain the credit necessary to sell to the main decision maker by establishing proper relationships and trusting yourself in the eyes of the customer’s decision maker.
- Measure results regularly and honestly. Usually, ordinary sellers do not tolerate the facts. They are very reluctant to review the results of their previous month’s work performance, unless they had a good sales performance that month! But top salespeople know very well that the secret to sales success is looking at the numbers—both good and bad—because numbers always have something to learn.
Are your sales up? it is very good. Now you have to do something to maintain this performance and develop it. Are your sales declining? Don’t be nervous! Look for the reasons and fix them. Professional salespeople take measuring and reacting to the results very seriously.
- Be committed to the customer. Usually, traditional salespeople get excited (and relieved) when they even come close to making a sale. While the super-professional salespeople in such situations, despite feeling happy, know very well that closing a sales deal is the first step to entering the road of continuous sales success to the customer.
Usually, the cost and energy of selling to a new customer is 5 times more than that of an existing customer, and more interestingly, with the passage of time and the increase in the level of trust of an existing customer, his purchase amount will be 80% more than that of a new customer. Therefore, super professional salespeople consider and manage well how to treat and allocate time for both customer groups.
- Have a positive attitude. We all know very well that selling is a very difficult task, especially when the economic situation is stagnant and the conditions are not very predictable, but in this situation, super professional salespeople do not let these conditions affect their morale and try to interact with Customers should use this situation as an opportunity. These people are a unique combination of self-confidence, optimism, enthusiasm and see even work challenges as an opportunity to find new sales solutions.
Remember that one of the most important signs of the success of any business is the success of its sales department, so start empowering your sales staff today.
Source: Vivaan News
