Achieving Success in Sales 5: Walking & Talking as a Professional.

If you have read my previous blogs on developing a successful sales career – and are heeding the advice therein – you have already gained some good strategies and are set to launch on a successful trajectory.

Next you must look the part. When I was a lot younger, a businessman’s attire was literally a pinstriped suit, a shirt and (perhaps University) tie and of course, black leather shoes! In England that also included a rolled umbrella and a bowler hat!

Show that you belong!

Now we’re in the 21st century business attire has indeed become far less formal than it once was, however, there still is a standard to which you need conform to. You may find that the expectation is for you to wear a 2-piece suit and at the very least to be ‘business casual.’ Remember, professionals buy from professionals! Remember your customers have their idea of what a ‘professional’ looks like and you should try to match that image.

Bear in mind that to your current or prospective customers you are the embodiment of the company that they are buying from! The same criteria apply to the cleanliness of your car both internally and externally. So, as well as your own appearance, its condition will convey a lot to customers that will either endorse or negate their willingness to purchase from you. (Here you need to be guided by others in the same sales field as yourself.)

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If you baulk at ‘conforming’ to such ‘stereotypes’ then…..to be perfectly blunt…. Don’t expect to succeed in Sales!

Are you being heard?

Now, having helped you understand that to be treated like a professional you have to look like one, let’s turn our attention to helping you achieve your goal, commission through on target sales, by how you communicate with your customers / clients.

The first thing to establish is finding the right person to talk to, in Sales we call this person ‘The Decision Maker.’

This is a critical part of your ‘reconnaissance’ and you need to establish if purchasing decisions are made by an individual or through a committee.

Get noticed quickly as someone significant!

Usually, with larger organizations they will have their own buyers, with smaller companies it will either be the owner or one of the VP’s who has been tasked with purchasing. Whoever it is, this is the ‘decision maker’ and he/she will be a key person to meet and most importantly someone to develop a rapport with.

With an established customer base information on these people should be part of your inherited sales portfolio. However, there is going to be the need to find new customers to grow your sales income and to compensate for losses to competitors etc.

This is called ‘Prospecting’ and is another essential skill to learn which requires you to hunt for new business opportunities! Your best equipment for this is knowledge, a notebook ( https://amzn.to/48GcP99) and an insatiable drive to succeed!!

At the beginning of this post series, I stated that ‘The Western World’s economy would grind to a halt unless someone sold something a profit.’ So, the key word here is profitability and how to maximize it, to ‘get the biggest bang for their buck’!

So right now, at this point you are almost ready to engage in the art of professional sales as you have the appearance of a business professional, you also have absolute knowledge of your company’s products and services, and you have something to leave your customer / client to connect back to you (Brochure & Business card). Finally, and most importantly, you know you will be meeting with someone who can authorize purchases from you!

It’s all in the mind…!

So now we must consider the mindset that you must maintain as you go about your business.

Being a professional salesperson is not ‘something you do’, it is ‘who you are‘. It is part of your identity and the degree to which you embrace that is the degree to which you will find true success in a career in Sales.

Can you imagine how a police officer, who is not confident in their identity, may not therefore behave in a situation where a true Law Enforcement input is required?

So, you must have that same unshakeable self-identity to be proficient in this career are part of – without you and your fellow sales personnel – the Economy would slowly grind to a halt!

In my next blog we will review the strategies that you need to be proficient at in order to win sales and achieve those goals you have set for yourself.

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