The non-secret formula that makes a great salesperson

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Why are salespeople great?
What makes salespeople successful?
What characteristics make up a sales superstar?

Wouldn’t you like to know the answer to these questions?
So would every salesperson.
So would every sales leader.
So would every person who hires a salesperson.

By understanding what criteria sales managers and business owners look for in a salesperson, you may be able to determine how those characteristics fit into your own personal success formula.

Everybody tells me they wanna hire a great salesperson. They go through the expensive gyrations of outsourcing, in-sourcing, testing, interviewing and finally hiring. Then they train with some intensive orientation and a week or two of product sales skills, investing all the while in their hopeful rookie. Yet the turnover rate of salespeople is pegged at 74% in the first year. So evidently, there’s a gap between who you think is great, and who is actually great.

I’ve been collecting great salesperson characteristics from many different sales managers and entrepreneurs. They’ll all give me “hiring” criteria and characteristics. But what they really mean is, “I need this person to have these skills in order to succeed in my company.”

QUESTION: Do you hire for skills, and fire for attitude? Why don’t you hire for attitude and train the skill? I have encountered hundreds of salespeople who claim to be great. Many of them are cynical and broke. The ones who really are great, don’t have to brag about it. They carry their own water, chop their own wood, mind their own business, and don’t have to talk about how great they are, because they have a positive attitude, a positive customer base, a positive success record, and a positive bank account to prove it. Their results do the talking.

It’s funny that every person who has ever bragged to me about what a great salesman or saleswoman they are, has never bragged to me about what a great person they are. And if I’m doing the hiring, I’m going to start with a great person, not a great salesperson.

The lesson here is that attitude and work ethic are more important than sales skill. If they have a great attitude, and a solid work ethic, they will accept learning new skills as a way of life and a path to success. If a person’s attitude is lacking, they fall into the category of “you can’t teach an old (sales)dog new tricks.”

And then there’s the character of the person. If you have a great salesperson with a rotten character, what do you do? You fire them, that’s what you do.

Here’s an easy unscientific answer to uncover the skill set, criteria, and characteristics of a great salesperson. Go back, and list the best ten salespeople you have ever known. Don’t forget to include yourself. Leave some space to list their characteristics. Maybe make a spreadsheet listing their names across the top of the page. Then compile your list of great characteristics down the side, and begin checking boxes for each salesperson.

When you begin to chart the characteristics of great salespeople you have known or hired, you’ll find that several of their characteristics are the same. Especially those of deep belief, ability to build relationships, ability to self-start, and ability to maintain a positive attitude.

You’ll also discover that every sales superstar you’ve ever known had individual characteristics or strengths that made him or her rise above the others. Maybe it was the fact she was a single mom. Maybe it was the fact he had overcome some tragedy. Or maybe it was just personal determination. Maybe it was their athleticism and their willingness to be coached that created the discipline for them to succeed.

It’s important that you list every one of these elements so that you’re able to develop a full set of criteria. This will allow you to measure that criteria against yourself, and your coworkers. It will also aid you in the selection process as you seek another sales star.

Here’s an idea: why not list all the criteria and create a self-evaluation test. Ask people (yourself included) to rate themselves in each of the sales characteristics. This will give them, and you, insight as to strengths and weaknesses, so that they (you) will know where to grow.

I’ve developed 13.5 characteristics compiled from salespeople and sales managers over the years. They will appear right here – NEXT WEEK.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Addressing Sales Productivity

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Salesforce Issues

In the B2B market space all sales leaders face similar issues and these centre on sales productivity. A significant level of revenue and margin is often produced by about 20% of the sales force. The major issues are that sales people spend too much time with customers where there is no intention to purchase. This costs time, money and absorbs sales management time. STRONGMAN© is a process which significantly reduces time wastage and improves sales productivity. Traditional sales methods of driving activity and creating pipeline are all responsible for reducing sales as opposed to increasing them!

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About the Author

Ed WalEd Wal, BSC, CIM, CIPD is a founder member of The BWD Partnership, which provides sales and marketing training. As an international speaker he has been engaged in major strategy reviews, the management of change projects and designed and implemented major training programmes in the USA, Europe and Australasia. He is the author of Solution Selling: The Strongman(c) Process. (Publisher: PG Press 3 May 2016)

The most coveted prize in selling besides a sale… is a referral.

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Everyone tells you to get referrals. And most people tell you to “ask” for them.

“Don’t forget to ask for a referral.” Horrible strategy. Totally offensive for the most part. Borderline rude. And asking the same customer twice is a death wish.

MY DEFINITION OF A REFERRAL: A name and contact information provided proactively by someone you have a relationship with (most likely a customer) who believes a third party would be willing to, or would benefit from doing business with you – AND they are willing to introduce you and provide a testimonial.

“I know a guy looking for…” “don’t use my name…” “here’s someone to call…” those are not referrals – they’re leads.

Now that that’s out of the way, suppose you actually DO get a referral. Ask, beg, get one proactively, earn one (the best way), whatever, let’s say you have the referral in hand… NOW WHAT?

No one tells you that part. What to do next to ensure the sale? How do you approach this person? How do you maximize the selling power of a referral? And what do you risk with the wrong approach?

Here’s a strategy that will work. CAUTION: It’s significantly slower than you would like, but it WILL WORK. The key is not just patience, it’s a combination of your preparedness, the strength of your relationship with the person giving you the referral, and execution of strategy to build confidence and rapport BEFORE the sales process begins.

Here are 8.5 rules and guidelines to ensure your success:
1. Approach with care, be prepared, don’t move too quickly. Timing is everything. Don’t appear to be too anxious to get the sale (money). Proper set up will breed a long-term relationship (more money) instead of just a sale.

2. Arrange a three-way call, then a three-way meeting. Setting the stage for the first meeting/communication can make it or break it. All three people together will set the perfect stage. Your customer will sing your praises and help make the sale in front of the referral.

3. Connect socially. LinkedIn, and the entire suite of social media. Subscribe to whatever – their blog or ezine. And keep in mind when they see you connect, they will do the same. Rule one: Be at least one notch higher in social profile than your customers and prospects. Not having solid social presence is a fatal mistake.

4. Get personal information about the referral before you make the first contact. Start with mother Google, and advance to cousin LinkedIn and all other members of the online social family. NOTE WELL: Don’t just look for information, look for similar interests, similar people, and similar situations. Common ground will establish immediate positive rapport. LINK STARTERS: Business information, personal information, recent successes, likes, last vacation, children’s schools, hometown. Having their personal information is an advantage. Having web presence is an advantage. Not having personal information is a fatal mistake.

5. You don’t have to sell at the first meeting if your customer is with you. In fact, the less selling you do, the more credible you will appear. You only have to establish rapport, gain confidence, and arrange a second, private meeting where you can get down to business.

6. Try to get the prospect to prepare information for your private meeting. If you can get the prospect to gather and/or compile information, you have an interested prospect who will be willing to talk and listen.

7. Don’t send too much information in the mail or email. The mail and the email, like the phone, is not where a sale is made. It’s just a sales tool. Send just enough to inform, create interest, and make a meeting.

8. Write a personal note to the referral within 24-hours. Brief, but positive. Don’t slobber all over the note with thanks, and thanks again. Just tell him or her it was nice to get acquainted and you’re looking forward to the next meeting.

8.5 Deliver! Failure to follow up and deliver as promised makes you and your customer look bad to the prospect. Failure to deliver also eliminates any chance of another referral. This rule is the most important of all. It’s a breeding ground for your relationship AND your reputation. What kind of reputation have you got?

How valuable are real referrals? One third-party introduction and endorsement is worth a hundred presentations, if you know what you’re doing.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Five Things You Should Advise Your Client to Do with That Defensively Registered Domain

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As a trusted legal advisor, you have taken valiant measures to protect your client’s brand against evil cybersquatters, typo-squatters, domain tasters, and other nefarious enemies by defensively registering a domain. Your client has already spent money to buy the domain, so why not provide your client additional value by encouraging him or her to put the domain to work instead of letting it just gather dust in the registrar account?

Indeed, defensive registration of a new domain is an exciting opportunity for a brand to tell its story, and perhaps more importantly, to attempt something bold, innovative, and exciting. Here are five inexpensive and easy ways your client can utilize that new domain right now:

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About the Author

Statton HammockStatton Hammock is responsible for guiding Rightside on business, legal, and policy matters related to its registry operations. Prior to joining Rightside, Statton spent five years with Network Solutions as Sr. Director of Law and Policy, where he provided legal and strategic business advice related to the protection of intellectual property rights, Internet governance, data security and privacy, and compliance with ICANN policies related to the provisioning, sale, and use of domain names.

It’s not what you say that makes the sale. It’s what they ask.

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Here is a sales action for you to take: Become question aware.
Here is another sales action for you to take: Listen with the intent to understand.

Every time you are asked a question. Ask yourself this question before you answer it… Is the prospect telling me that he or she is ready to buy?

That requires thinking way beyond your sales pitch. It’s the nuance part of the presentation. It’s where the sale is.

Below is the last part of the list of 21.5 signs and signals that the customer MAY be ready to buy…

14. Specific questions about ownership of your product or service. “Would you provide supplies each month automatically?” “Would you come by each month and pick up my accounting?” “Suppose I like the temp, and want her to work for me full-time?” Those are the nitty-gritty questions of the buying process. The prospect is already owning it. You are being asked secondary (ownership) questions that say you are going too far. You should have asked for the sale a long time ago. These are questions that should come after you have completed the sale.

15. Questions to confirm unstated decision or seeking support. “Is this the best way for me to go?” Or, “What do you recommend?” Could they be leaning any further forward without falling over? Your customer is looking at you for your expertise and advice. They are depending on you for your wisdom. When they ask, “What would you do?” and you don’t put ink on paper at that time, get out of there! You don’t belong there.

16. Wanting to see a sample or demo again. “Could I see those fabric samples again?” “Tell me about the warranty again?” When prospects ask to see or hear anything again, that is when you write the order.

17. Asking for a test or a sample. “Can I try this for a few days?” “Can you send me a sample?” The prospect is saying, if this works I will buy!

18. Making buying noises. What’s a buying noise Jeffrey? The prospect saying, “Oh! I didn’t know that!” or “Oh really? that’s interesting!” or “You know, that’s in line with what we have been doing,” or “That is something that I have always wanted to try.”

19. Asking about other satisfied customers. “Who else is using your product right now?” “Who are some of your current customers?” Here’s a clue: They don’t believe you, so they are asking questions about someone else like them so that they can have enough reassurance to buy. Customers don’t always believe the salesperson, because at some point in their life, a salesperson has lied to them.

20. Asking for a reference. If they say, “Can I contact someone you did temp work for?” That is a specific question that says if you can provide this for me, I am buying. Or if they say, “Do you have a list of satisfied customers?” and you go, “Well no, but I do have this list of loyal customers. Would you like to see it?” that’s how you make the sale.

21. Asking chicken questions. The buyer is always looking to lower the risk of ownership, but they start out with something like this, “Suppose I buy it and it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t fit, or it’s not the right size?” What they are saying is give me some more reassurance. What the customer is saying right now is don’t sell me anymore, rather, reassure me.

Ok, so there’s the 21. There is one more, and then the .5 of course. Ok, so the last one is SO BIG that it needs its own space so I purposefully did not number it.

The biggest buying signal of them all is the one most often never asked because you have employed the rule of dumb.

Giving away critical pricing information before it’s asked for, therefore precluding the biggest buying signal in sales… How much is it? This question is the single most powerful buying signal on the planet. If you tell your price at the beginning, or send your price list in your info-pack, you are taking away a huge tactical advantage in making the sale. The other “ask” that I did not put in this list but should be mentioned is when the buyer asks you, “What is the next step?” This is so blatant of a buying sign it’s not really right to consider it a signal. It’s more of a hit in the face with a shovel.

And finally, 21.5, your ability to convert any signal, sign or question into a sale. Every one of these buying signals or questions can be turned into a closing question that will lead to a faster sale, if you are paying attention, if you are listening with the intent to understand. With every pointed question, the prospect is saying, “I want to buy.” My question to you is, “How are you responding?”

Listening for, recognizing, and acting on a buying signal is critical to your success as a salesperson. You will go past the sale if you don’t. And many do.

Free GitBit – all three parts of this series are available if go to gitomer.com and enter the words BUYING SIGNALS in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].