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How to Adopt a Sales Mindset
Thirteen simple rules to become your own sales superstar.
As a business owner, you're in sales whether you think so or not.
Every day you have to sell yourself -- and your product or service -- to
grow
your business.
If you're not sure you have the personality to succeed in selling,
consider these 13 simple rules to create a superstar sales mindset.
1. Stay hungry. Every good salesperson I've ever
encountered is driven. They have a strong work ethic and a high energy
level. They work harder and longer than their peers. When the economy is
poor, they are still out there pounding the pavement, making calls.
2. Never compromise your integrity. I've always believed that telling the truth is the best policy. In
business,
especially today, it's a must. A few years back, the Forum Corporation
in Boston studied 341 salespeople from 11 different companies in five
different industries. Their purpose was to determine what separated the
top producers from the average producers. When the study was finished,
the results were startling. It was not skill, knowledge or charisma that
divided the pack. The difference came down to one trait: honesty. When
customers trust salespeople, they buy from them.
3. Stay positive. Your attitude, not your aptitude,
will determine your altitude. Success is 90 percent mental. You can
alter your life by altering your mind. In tough economies, it may not be
your fault for being down, but it is certainly your fault for not
getting up. You have to be a believer to be an achiever.
4. Be authoritative. Sales superstars know their
products backward and forward. They also know their competitors'
products and are prepared to point out the differences.
5. Get prepared. I still remember the
old Boy Scout motto, "Be prepared." Well, it's true. It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results.
Related: Four Signs a Sales Pro Will Be a Good Hire
6. Mind your reputation. You can't buy a good
reputation -- you must earn it. If you don't have a positive reputation,
it will be difficult to be successful in whatever you do.
7. Be genuine. I have never known anyone to buy from
someone they don't like. Likability matters. Are you genuine? Pleasant?
Easy to talk with?
8. Put your best foot forward. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Are you neat and well groomed? Underdressed or overdressed?
9. Set goals. Winners set goals; losers make
excuses. Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning;
they are an incentive to keep you going all day. They must be
measurable, identifiable, obtainable, specific -- and put them in
writing.
Related Video: How to Find Customers on Social Media
10. Become a customer-service fanatic. I've often said the sale begins when the customer says yes. Good salespeople make sure the
job
gets done on time— and done right. There's one thing no business has
enough of: customers. Take care of the customers you've got, and they'll
take care of you. You must have a fanatical attention to detail.
11. Remember to listen. You can't learn anything
with your mouth open. For too many people, good listening means, "I
talk, you listen." Listening is a two- way process. Yes, you need to be
heard, but you also need to hear others' ideas, questions and
objections. If you talk at people instead of with them, they're not
buying in -- they're caving in.
Related: Seven Ways to Avoid Competing On Price
12. Keep it all in perspective. It is impossible to
underrate the importance of a sense of humor. When there are inevitable
setbacks along the way, learn to laugh about them.
13. Develop a thirst for self-improvement. You don't
go to school once for a lifetime. You are in school all your life.
Sales superstars are constantly working to become better. They take
courses, read books, listen to audiotapes and inhale everything they can
to improve.
Bottom Line: A salesperson tells, a good salesperson explains… and a sales superstar demonstrates.
Adapted excerpt from The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World by Harvey Mackay (Portfolio Penguin, Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011).
