If you take a good look at all the successful entrepreneurs and business owners throughout history, you’ll notice that they have some similar defining characteristics.
This may seem like nothing more than coincidence, but the truth is that without those traits, they may not have achieved the success that they have now—and that has even made some of them household names. So in this blog post, we’ll discuss the top ten qualities that will make you a more effective salesperson.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
You Value Time
Time is an important resource because it’s something we can never get back. This is true for both you and your customers; that is why it’s absolutely essential that you don’t waste a single second of your prospects’ time when you’re making a sales pitch.
Train yourself to get straight to the point. Everything you say should be substantial and value-adding. Don’t add unnecessary fluff and end up lengthening the time you spend making the pitch—and possibly boring your customers. Let your potential clients know that you mean business because that is exactly what you are there for.
You Know How to Build a Connection
To leave a lasting impression on your clients, it’s important to first grab their attention.
You can do that by building rapport with them. Ask questions or add in a couple of jokes and/or anecdotes to warm up potential clients to you. This helps keep their attention, while also lightening the mood and making them more open to the sale—and to doing repeat business.
Strengthening your client relationship can make all the difference. Just be sure not to stray too far from your point and keep the conversation on the product or service you’re selling.
You Are Resilient
As a salesperson, you will not close 100% of your deals. Even the best salesperson in history has never done that.
But don’t let that stop you from pursuing greatness. What you can do is to learn from each of your shortcomings and find the knowledge and new skills embedded in each failure. That way, you can continue to make progress and emerge as a more well-rounded individual and salesperson each time.
You Can Stay Focused
Effective salespeople know how to tune out all their pending tasks and other distractions and just put their heads down and do what needs to be done. Sales is a busy and hectic profession, but constantly hopping from task to task could just waste your time and risk the quality of your output—and that’s certainly not going to help you advance your career.
Train yourself to block out all distractions so you can remain focused on the task at hand. More work done equals more results.
You Are Always Honest
It’s very easy to sense when someone is being dishonest or holding something back, and that can ruin the mood pretty quickly.
Make it a point to always be truthful when dealing with people. Answer all questions accurately, and be honest enough to say when you are unsure about something, instead of pretending to know the right answer. Trust me, your clients will appreciate that more than any bluster.
You Can Stay On Top of Everything
As a salesperson, there are times when you’ll have to juggle many responsibilities at once, so you’ll need to find ways to stay on top of everything and avoid getting overwhelmed even during your most hectic weeks.
One way to do so is to keep all your upcoming meetings and deadlines organized. Exactly how you choose to do so is up to you, but it’s helpful to include progress charts and ways to sort each task by urgency. And, of course, you need to have the commitment to faithfully update your master calendar, so you don’t overlook anything important.
You Are Confident
Confidence is something that not everyone is born with, but it can be developed over time.
There are many ways to boost your confidence as a salesperson. Some examples are to always come prepared and to believe in what you are selling. If you are confident in your product’s ability to solve a specific problem and have done the research, people will notice.
You Can Hold Yourself Accountable
It is inevitable that you will make mistakes throughout your career. But if you’re constantly shifting blame to other people, all you’re doing is hindering your growth and potential to thrive in this industry.
Accept that there will always be times when you fall short. These things are all part of the learning process. Hold yourself accountable so that you can keep improving and growing as a salesperson.
You Can Make Adjustments On The Fly
The ability to plan ahead is extremely important. But in life, things don’t always go as planned.
Sales can be unpredictable. When you’re confronted with a situation you didn’t think to prepare for, you should have the confidence and good judgment needed to adapt. Remain flexible enough to make adjustments, so you can still find ways to succeed despite any obstacles that get in your way.
You Are Passionate
“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” – Marc Anthony
Being passionate about what you do is what will keep you going. You can do things over and over again even if they don’t always go your way without losing your motivation and drive to succeed.
Use your passion to fuel your pursuit of greatness as a salesperson—and who knows? You may one day find yourself among the people you used to look up to.
