Not so attractive, is it? I couldn't help but be fascinated
by just how perfect this picture is as a metaphor.
Think about it. No one would argue with the seemingly
effortless grace with which ballet dancers portray something that is both
beautiful, and pleasant to watch. If you've ever been to the ballet, and even
if you're not into this sort of art form, you no doubt left with admiration for
the sheer level of athletic ability these dancers perform, all while smiling or
projecting a mood that is appropriate to the role or scene.
What you won't see is the pain, the stamina, or the
commitment they have made and endured throughout the many many years that it
took to make it all seem so effortless.
Of course, we know differently. We know how much hard work
has led to this magnificent feat, yes, pun intended. We know how much the
dancer has given up, the hours they have worked, the pain they have endured, or
do we?
What most people see is the ballerina's left foot, adorned
in a simple and clean dance shoe. What we don't see is the other foot, the foot
that is gnarled, bruised, and no doubt terribly painful. The real foot that
made it all possible.
In my business, I have now spent thousands of hours coaching
sales people, often young sales people, all of whom aspire to achieve a successful
career in sales. Some are more gifted than others, and some get breaks that others
don't. That said, I have seen some of the least gifted sales people hit the
ball out of the park, and those with the best advantages fail miserably.
Everyone knows what the dream is, but does everyone appreciate
the road map required to achieve the dream? In most cases, I would say, no.
While there is no shortage of "experts"
pontificating on the magic potion to achieving success, I will limit myself to
the world that I know, the world I have spent my career in - the world of the
business to business sales professional.
So without further adieu, hear are the eight most common
traits that I have witnessed -for over three decades - that the overwhelming
majority of top sales producers possess:
1) Early,
early, early. If you want to play in the same sand box as important
clients, then you have to be in it when they are. A poll conducted by Gallup
concluded that;
"Morning people" are particularly common among
people with high salaries."
and that;
"70 percent of people in households earning at least
$75,000 per year prefer mornings, compared with 40 percent of those in
households earning less than $30,000 annually."
Virtually every top producer I have known, whether on the
client or the supply side, start their days early, typically 7-7:30 am.
Sought after clients prefer to deal with suppliers that
demonstrate qualities and attributes they find important themselves. They want
to do business with people that do business the way they do. They respect it.
2) Work a plan. It doesn't have to be the
best plan, and it doesn't have to be a new plan. What it does have to be is a
well thought out plan and a plan done well in advance of the period you are
executing against. Generally speaking, the up-coming year.
While results and goals are important, they are an end to
the means. It's the means that you need to identify. What actions are required to achieve the result? When are the actions
required, and are they achievable? If not, re-adjust your goal.
3) Forget
about luck. Widely attributed to Thomas Jefferson, the old adage "I am
a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of
it." is nowhere more true than in the world of B2B sales. It isn't luck really;
it just appears like it to those who don't have any. How many times have you
listened to a colleague complain that so and so is only successful because
they're lucky? Perhaps their opinion would change were they to ask the successful
person to remove their ballet slipper?
Make no mistake; there
are no easy solutions, no quick fix schemes. Success takes hard work, a lot
of hard work. How successful you become rests entirely on how hard you are
prepared to work.
4) Be authentic.
This is becoming increasingly more important. Long gone are the days of the
cheese ball sales pitch winning. As the world quickly pivots to a digital age,
clients are getting more and more of what they need on-line. It is people they know and trust that will deliver
the rest of what they need.
5) Show up!! You would be surprised - and
this is alarmingly more prevalent amongst millennials - how little import is
given to simple things like returning messages, honoring commitments and the
like. Turn this to your advantage. Be the one that is always there, the sales
professional who crosses all "t's" and dots all "i's". And do it before you go home every day.
6) Under promise and over
deliver. Be careful what you say you can do. Top sales producers manage clients'
expectations and sell the benefits of what they can deliver vs. what the client
may believe is reasonable. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more powerful
than delivering more in the end, than what the client expected in the beginning.
7) Practice
"Expertization". This is a term I made up some years ago. Clients
are not unidimensional in their scope of responsibility. If you sell widgets,
you need to be an expert on widgets. Just remember, the client you deal with likely
has responsibility for other functions within their company beyond buying
widgets. The sales professional that understands and can relate to a clients entire circumstance will win most often.
The sales professional that strives to learn about a clients entire business
will always have the upper hand over the sales person that is only an expert on
widgets.
8) Work at being
likeable. Remember, success is a team
sport. In the First Approach ® prospecting program that I teach, there are
a number of what I call "maxims". One is that "if someone likes
you, they'll find a way to do business with you, and if they don't, they won't."
Remember, you're in the people business. You need to understand that it's not
enough to want to do well; there needs to be those around you who wish for you
to do well.
If you want to be a top performing sales professional, it
isn't all that hard, as long as you're prepared to work hard.
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