How to Become a Top Performer in Sales (7 Qualities)
Xant Team
Work smarter, not harder with these organization tips for sales reps!
RELATED: 6 Effective Time Management Strategies From Sales Experts
In this article:
- Top Organization Tips for the Office: Make a To-Do-List and Use Time Blocks
- Top Organization Tips for Outside Sales: Plan Your Route and Prepare to Pivot
- Use Technology and Automation to Your Advantage
- Manage Your Inbox
- Organization Tips You Can Implement Immediately
- Personal Investment
- Paranoia
Sales Organization Tips To Be Productive and Sell More
Not Too Personable
The common conception, even among much of the sales community, is that a salesperson should be as friendly and gregarious with the customer as possible while still plugging the product. Surprisingly, though, the top performers are not always the friendliest salespeople.
According to Harvard Business Review, the most successful salespeople exhibited 30% less gregariousness (another word for friendly and outgoing nature) than their most outgoing colleagues.
The reason for this phenomenon, they explain, is that establishing yourself as a dominant authority is important in sales. And being too friendly makes the customer see you on the same level as them, which takes away your authority.
Make Them Think It Was Their Idea
Salespeople should not tell their customers to buy the product being sold. Instead, they should introduce the product and gently nudge the customer down a path ending with the sale. In other words, the salesperson should make the customer want to buy the product on their own accord.
People are stubborn by nature. Most of us are a lot less likely to do something if someone else tells us to than if we make the decision ourselves — or at least feel that’s what we’re doing. Salespeople should familiarize themselves with this concept and use it to their advantage.
Submissiveness
Although establishing authority is essential, making yourself seem better than the customer is a huge no-no. People love feeling like the top dog in an interaction, and they’re more likely to buy if they do.
Use subtle cues and psychological tricks to make yourself seem submissive and inferior, even if you are secretly the one in control of the exchange. For example, try:
- Using “open” body language. Don’t cross your arms, for example.
- Bare your palms. Don’t wear clothing that covers your throat.
- Physically positioning yourself lower than the customer. If they’re standing, sit on the couch. If they sit on the couch, find a lower chair.
- Smiling.
- Maintaining eye contact.
Read Subtle Clues
A sales pitch is not about reading a script, even if that script is perfectly prepared. It’s necessary for the salesperson to monitor their customer behaviors continually and factor them into how they deliver the pitch.
The behaviors are often very subtle. Very small shifts in body language, expression, or vocal tone can and should be noticed, and they will drastically alter the direction in which a master salesperson takes the conversation.
RELATED: Top 3 Things You Need To Perfect Your Sales Cadence
Empathy
“Empathy” is basically another word for the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes and feel things through their emotions.
A top performer in sales should be able to do this emotional transference at will. They should utilize that ability during their pitches to help identify what pains the customer and what they want to hear about.
Here are some examples of empathy dos and don’ts that salespeople can incorporate into their interactions with customers.
Personal Investment
Another common misconception is that salespeople just go for the sale, without any thought about how well the product will perform after it is in the customer’s care. While this might be true with some salespeople, the best ones are deeply invested in the quality of their products and the integrity of their sales.
When a salesperson believes in the product, the conviction will shine through during their pitch. Even the best in the field can’t replicate that conviction and pull the wool over the eyes of their customers if it is not genuine.
Paranoia top performers
Great salespeople know a sale can fall through the cracks in a million different ways, even after a customer agrees to buy. They hound their customers at a rate that verges on annoying until the money is in the bank, because they need to make absolutely sure nothing goes wrong and that the customer does not change their mind.
It sounds irritating to the customer, and it probably is a bit, but persistence is vital in the world of sales.
Don’t leave your success as a salesperson up to chance. Don’t rely on your appearance, charisma, or smooth way of talking because those things won’t work on everyone.
The qualities discussed above, on the other hand, are universal. Master them, and you will make more sales.
TO HEAR ABOUT OF FEW OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FOR SALESPEOPLE NOT TO DO, CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ABOVE FROM SALES EXPERT DAN LOK.
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