Best Sales Practices - Part 2

The basics are important - especially in sales. Today sales trainer Colleen Stanley continues where she left off yesterday with the important basics you have to be comfortable with to be a top salesperson.

Get Rid of Arrogance
A top producer that has achieved the "top of the hill" status can quickly move to the bottom of the hill because of arrogance. Arrogant individuals stop learning because, after all, they are the best in the business. What can they possibly learn after 20 years in the profession? The real issue is that young, hungry, competitors haven't caught the disease of arrogance. The competition continues to learn, change and grow. The result is a new king or queen of the hill looking down at a stunned, retired past king or queen.

Get Focused
A poor producer can work very hard. Lack of sales isn't from lack of effort; it's that the effort is focused on the wrong prospect, activity and partnerships. Top producers have clearly identified their ideal client and have built a strategy around meeting, influencing, and creating value for that specific client. They are very clear on who they will sell and what they will sell. Top producers walk away from prospects that don't fit their ideal profile; leaving them more time to walk towards best-fit clients. They leave the price shopping prospects to their competitors who get to invest all their time in writing proposals that go nowhere.

Manage Your Time
Top producers are good at calendaring. They set aside very specific times each week for business development (prospecting calls, client retention calls, calls updating referral partners, etc.). Top producers have discipline and don't allow outside distractions to deter them from their most important appointment - the appointment with themselves and working their plan.

Invest in Yourself
Top producers don't wait for someone else to make them good (I.e. I will only attend a sales training course if the company is picking up the tab). I am reminded of a client, "Jill," who came to me seven years ago. She was an administrative assistant desiring to enter the sales profession. Her current employer would not offer her a sales position because they just didn't think an administrative assistant could sell. Jill believed she had the ability to be very good in sales and invested her own time and money in sales training. She eventually applied for a sales position at another firm and became the number one salesperson at the new firm. Jill did not wait to get good based on someone else's beliefs or dollars.

Get Going
Are you getting ready to get ready? Listen up: Perfection is highly overrated. While you are waiting to get all the research done on a prospect, perfecting your technique, or redoing your PowerPoint one last time, the salesperson that is showing up is getting the deal. Strive for perfection, but don't wait on perfection.

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership Inc., a business development consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. The company provides programs in prospecting, referral strategies, consultative sales training, sales management training, and hiring/selection. Learn more at www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com.