As a sales manger I used to hear: “Bill sure is lucky. He always seems to land the big ones!” Maybe luck played a part but when you look closely you will see Bill’s “luck” happened where his preparedness met a selling opportunity. Bill understands professional selling is all about applying sales skills.
Professional Selling Is Like Fishing
Image by Dmitry Abramov from Pixabay
Salespeople Have A Basic Sales Skill Set
Great salespeople have practiced selling skills until they are expert at them. They know that successful selling is following a procedure from prospecting to closing. Applying sales skills to build rapport, find an urgent need, learn the budget, understand how buying decisions are made and offering a compelling solution is what great salespeople do every day.
Attitude Is An Applied Skill
Take a look around at the great salespeople you know. I’ll bet they all have a positive attitude. They believe they are winners and act the part. Great salespeople are determined. You see them persistently apply their sales skills to win business. Most of all great salespeople enjoy their work and are happy. High integrity is a trait winners have. They always do their best when applying sales skills. And when great salespeople lose a sale, they don’t take it personally. They use the experience to improve their skills.
Activities Create Winners
In all aspects of life, we do the same things over and over and over again. In the kitchen, we cook, eat, clean up and do it all over again. The fisherman in the picture with this post baited his hook, cast into the water, trolled the bait, hooked the fish, reeled it in lifted the fish into the boat with his net. Then did it all over again. Sales people prospect, qualify, close, follow up, ask for referrals and do it multiple times a day. Not feeling lucky? Take a look at how you apply your sales skills.
Always Be Learning
Great salespeople are always studying their craft and applying new sales skills. They add to their “tool box” of selling skills regularly. Mentors help even the most experienced salespeople perfect their skills and sometimes coach them out of a slump. Great salespeople study their customers’ industries, keep current on the products and services they sell and follow the trends in the way customers buy. By practicing new sales skills they are better prepared to find ways to help their customers succeed which of course wins the work for their company.
And Sometimes It Is Luck
Every now and then I found myself at the right place at the right time. Once when I worked for a metal fabricator we had just gotten qualified to work on a new construction project for a pharmaceutical company. I happened to walk into the office of the project manager one day thinking I would introduce myself and begin building rapport. However he said: “I’m glad you are here. We will need to discuss a contract at some point soon but right now I have work that needs to be done. I’m going to issue a time-and-material purchase order so your craftsmen can start helping me out.”
Lucky? Maybe. Certainly the reaction was unexpected. But I had been following the project through the design and knew there was metal fabrication work needed. And I had used sales skills to get approval from the owner to work on the construction of the new plant.
What You Can Do Right Now
- Evaluate your sales skills. Which ones need a tune up?
- Take a look at your daily activities. Are you doing what needs to be done to be successful?
- Think about your attitude. Do you enjoy your work? Does it show?
To learn more sales secrets see Chapter Six, Characteristics of Successful Salespeople, in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. For even more sales help, join our FREE Sales Club! “See” you next week.
Good selling!
Don Crawford & Lois Carter Crawford