How to be a Better Salesperson

"Selling is really about having conversations with people and helping improve their company or their life. If you look at it like that, selling is a very admirable thing to do.''- Lori Richardson

‌‌A salesperson is a professional whose role within a company is to sell the product or service that are provided to them. So, How to be a better salesperson?

In Nutshell, we can say that it involves looking for potential customers, promoting your product, assisting customers with complaints or inquiries related to products, services, and many many more activities.

To conduct so many duties, a salesperson must be equipped with several virtues to be able to work efficiently and breakthrough every task.‌‌A basic theory by David Mayer (as published in Harvard Business Review) is that a good salesperson must have at least two essential qualities: empathy and ego drive.‌‌‌‌

How to Improve Your Sales Skills-Good Salesperson Qualities

Are you struggling to close your deals? checkout this post to know how to become a successful salesperson and all the Salesperson skills and qualities.

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‌‌Feel Your Customer

''Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, make me feel important.' not only will you succeed in sales, but you will also succeed in life. - Mary Kay Ash

It is not very important to agree with the feelings of the customer; a great salesperson makes an empathetic connection with the customer to understand their state completely. It is a central quality to be able to sell him/her a product or service, which must possess an ample amount. Once you can touch the soul of the customer, you get the power to affect his/her mind too.

A salesperson simply cannot sell well without the invaluable and irreplaceable ability to get great feedback from the client through empathy.

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Ego Drive

‌‌The second of the essential qualities needed by a good salesperson is a particular kind of ego drive that makes him want and need to make the sale in a personal or selfish way, not solely for the money to be attained. Everyone aims to achieve big in life. And for that, you need to take small steps at first.

Each step covered act as a power booster to climb higher. His sentiments must be that he has to generate the sale; the customer is there to assist him in fulfilling his particular need. In effect, the deal—the conquest—provides a powerful means of enhancing his ego. His self-picture improves dramatically under subjugation and diminishes with failure.‌‌‌‌‌‌

While these are some natural qualities that can also growth time, effort and patience, we provide you with some practical tips to achieve the goals of being a better salesperson:

Tips to Being a Better Salesperson

‌‌‌‌Know Your Product

‌‌While many tricks in the past have worked for sales, the increasing access to information has made it tough for companies to befool people. Hence, it has become increasingly important to know your product in and out as much as you can before you make the pitch. Nothing is more off-putting for a buyer than to find an ignorant sales representative.

‌‌‌‌Be an Active Listener

‌‌'' We don't learn from talking; we learn from listening.'' It is human nature to wait for your turn to speak in any conversation, but a smart salesperson listens deeply for multiple reasons. Listening leads to forming stronger bonds and trust with the client.

Also, the information contained in the conversation can help them position the product or service better to the customer in real-time. Such discussions can bring out some essential highlights which can be beneficial for future dealings. So, as Brian Tracy has stated,'' Make a habit of dominating the listening, and let the prospect dominate the talking.''

‌‌‌‌Work Harder

‌‌There’s no such thing as a born salesperson. Great sales representatives make it look easy, but superior performance usually indicates that a salesperson has taken the time to hone their skills and is continuously iterating to help their prospects better. The efforts they give to make every sale gets undermined by the number of sales in the given period say in a month.

It is not easy to convince people all around because they find all kinds of heads, from easy-going to hard-hitting, from fickle-minded to hot-headed. Dealing with such a variety and being successful in it is a significant achievement in itself.

‌‌Follow Up

‌‌After the proposal is made, the client's reply is much-awaited. But waiting in itself is not enough. Always remember,

'' It's not your customer's job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don't have a chance to forget you.'' - Patricia Fripp.

A salesperson has to conduct some quick follow up calls or emails or both. Many a time, the sales rep don’t know if the client even opened their email. HubSpot Sales helps with this issue, letting salespeople know when and how often a prospect opened their email. With this information, they can follow up at the most optimal time.

‌‌Personalize Your Approach

‌‌To learn as much as you can about the prospective client and then using that information in your conversation with them can be useful in understanding the real pain-points people are facing at the time and help build their product up to suit the needs of the client. Mould your words enough to convince your client that your product will solve their problem or highlight that problem as well if the client was unaware of it.

''Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.'' - Brian Tracy‌‌‌‌

They’re Always Selling‌‌

As they leave the office, their selling practice goes beyond the hours, and they engage with the prospective clients at dinner, parties, social gatherings and even at a barbershop if the opportunity presents itself. Bottom Line: It is not a job anymore; it is a habit to sell.‌‌‌‌‌‌

Persistence is the key to unlock the bonus treats in the business. Being energetic, structured and resourceful is always needed. He/she must be able to handle time constraints while achieving the required goals.