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Morning Column
Become a Sales Superstar - 10 Critical Areas to Master
Becoming a sales superstar is ALL about the choices you make as a
salesperson. There is good and bad news to this statement. First the bad,
what got you here today will not necessarily make you a sales superstar
tomorrow. Now for the good news, you can be a sales superstar if you start
making choices today - like a sales superstar.
Sales superstars don't just suddenly show up or arrive out of nowhere. They
design their paths to superdom using hard work and thinking about their
choices ALL THE TIME! They develop a winner's edge on the mental side and
learn the skills to insure winning. So, how do they do this? By working on
ten critical areas that create sales success in today's highly competitive
world. To become a sales superstar, you must decide to improve your skills
in these ten critical areas:
1. Learning - Sales superstars have one thing in common - they are always
learning. Their learning can take several avenues. One, they learn about
their customers, in depth, so they can understand the current and future
situations they will face. They are also readers. Remember this - leaders
are readers! They read about selling, business trends, leadership issues,
economic trends and industry trends. They are the first to sign up for
extending training and development sessions. They know that they need to
sharpen their skills everyday - if they want to keep winning in the game of
selling.
2. Business Acumen - In the modern world of selling, salespeople MUST be
able to speak in terms that are important to customers and especially the
"C" level customers. These terms are the world of Business Acumen - revenue
growth, cost of goods sold, gross margin, related costs, turnover ratios,
velocity and net income. If you are just talking about features and
benefits - you are in the world of commodity selling and price alone rules.
3. Preparedness - Like the Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared, top salespeople
know that customer research is done before meeting with customers. You
validate what you have learned while in the presence of customers - which
shows the customer that you are different and will not waste their valuable
time. Using web search engines to find information about your customers,
their customers, financial data and trends - allow you to be more
knowledgeable than your competition.
4. Industry Knowledge - This should be a no-brainer, however, you will still
find sales people with little industry understanding. To be a sales
superstar, knowing the industry is a requirement. It assists you in
understanding trends, cycles, what is old or new, best practices, and who
are their customers. Industry knowledge allows for knowing the little
secrets of success and most importantly the ability to anticipate trends
within the industry -allowing you to guide the customer to better decisions
about their business.
5. Questioning Skills - Here is the big one. Most sales people talk too
much. Yes, they talk too much and actually bore the customer. Why? Because
the customer will have opinions about things and they will Believe Their
Thoughts over Yours! This is a form of bias, yet, the best sales people have
learned this fact. They use questions to uncover these biases, use different
questions to guide or educate the customer, and even different types of
questions to learn what specific benefit or advantage certain solutions
would provide for that specific customer. The key is using questions to
become customer centric rather than boasting about what you think you know.
This is a required skill in modern selling, this is the land of the sales
superstar and they have learned the importance of this skill.
6. Listening - Closely related to the questioning skills is the ability to
actively listen to the customer. By focusing on exactly what the customer is
saying, opens the door to understanding what is going on in the customer's
world. The sales superstars have taken listening to a higher level. They
listen for things that are not clearly defined by the customer, what should
have been said - but was not. They hear general statements and respond with
a clarifying question for specifics and clear understanding of the
situation. Another interesting effect comes from listening to the customer -
they like you more!
7. Think like an Owner - This means connecting all the dots. How does your
team finish the sale with the customer? Does the customer feel satisfied
after the sale or does doubt and frustration rule? Coordinating other
functional areas to satisfy the customer is another critical issue that most
sales people overlook - yet it is the one that influences the next sale to
that customer the most. Take time to think about customer satisfaction and
what it takes to insure success with each customer.
8. Creative Problem Solving - The key here is "creative." This is not
by-the-book or policy type of problem solving. It is about looking at the
customer's situation and thinking about different ways to solve the problem
they have. Then choosing the one idea that will create the most effective
solution for both the customer and your company. Hint: Your biggest
opportunity customers will test you concerning problem solving - before they
buy - just to see if you are looking after their best interests. This is a
guaranteed test.
9. Practice, Practice, Practice - The sales superstars do not practice a new
or improved technique on a critical customer. They work on the skills using
role-plays, application exercises and even video a customer stimulation.
Using video in the practice sessions is the fastest method to gain immediate
improvement in selling skills - yet - it is the least used due to egos and
fear of failure. Focus on becoming a superstar.
10. Self Confidence - The final critical factor is both a means and an end
to succeeding in the other nine factors. Confidence is the key to having the
winner's edge. Most importantly, customers want to work with confident
people to get the results and outcomes they need. If you do the first nine,
confidence will come. Or use self confidence in demonstrating the discipline
needed to make the choices that lead to success and sales superstar status.
The world of sales is changing rapidly. As a sales person, you need to
decide if you want to stay in sales for the long term or do something else?
Strong words, yet, truthful words based upon the change that has already
started in several industries. Commodity selling will be ruled by the
Internet and price decisions rather than best value solutions. Make a
decision today to become a sales superstar and master the ten critical
factors of success.
About the Author:
Voss Graham is the founder and CEO of Inneractive Consulting Group, Inc. As
the author of "Three Games of Selling," he works with companies across the
country to develop and hire successful sales teams with above average
performance. Voss is a seasoned sales veteran who has worked with companies
such as International Paper, The Memphis Group (a Division of GE) and Alcan
Packaging, the United Way and Sara Lee Foods. For more information, please
e-mail voss@inneractiveconsulting.com, or call 901-757-4434.
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