We have all heard “He or she could see ice to an Eskimo” or a similar statement about great sales people. 

About once a month or so, in some social media website or in some syndicated online business column discussion invariably flows to this question:

What makes a great salesperson? 

As sales are the life and breath of any organization, having a sales team that delivers a continued revenue stream is critical from small businesses to Fortune 100 organizations.

Now some firms look to competencies. Yet what may be a strong skill set for one individual may be lacking in another.  However both may consistently exceed their sales quotas. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  For a better understanding of a competency based model versus a results based model, the book Fail-Safe Leadership is a great springboard.

Then there are those who deliver their results, hit those sales goals, but their methodology may be somewhat suspect.  Some pushy salespersons are quite successful.

And of course there are those who are just plain tenacious.  They never give up, keep calling and calling very much like the energized bunny.

So what makes a great salesperson?

As to the answer to that question, I am not totally sure.  My sense is the person requires at least these three characteristics and I am not sure characteristics is even a good word.

First, having a positive core sense of values (ethical behaviors) is job one.  People buy from people they know and trust.  Those sales people who honor their commitments to even turn down business when it is not the right fit are great individuals first and great sales people second. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Embracing the 3 sales buying rules helps to increase sales.

Second, knowing oneself with crystal clear clarity.  Until you actually know your talents (meaning having some sore of performance assessment), then there is the potential for directing energy to vague or even moving targets.  What I have learned is many people truly do not know what they do well, but they have far more accurate knowledge about what they do not do well. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Winning teams win because of the strengths (strong talents) of the team, not the weaknesses or non-talents.

Third, employing a consistent sales leads process from that initial meet and greet until after delivery of the solution is essential.  Technology through the use of a customer relationship management system such as Landslide,  Sales Nexus or Sales Force to even mobile computing through applications on smart devices enhances that sales leads process. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  With more sales people having to wear more hats, working without a proven process is a recipe to remain pocket poor.

Then within each of these three characteristics are the subset traits including specific sales skills (technical), people skills as well as organizational skills. All of these traits, characteristics or  talents support the goal to increase sales.

Being a great salesperson is not a one size fits all nor 3 top sales skills holder.  People are unique and bring their own experiences and values to the sales process from marketing (meet and greet) to selling (overcoming objections).  Also the culture within any organization can make even a poor sales person good and a great sales person bad.

So what makes a great salesperson? 

Well that question will continue to be asked and answered until people stop selling.

Having a web presence is critical to increase sales. How your site is constructed is part of being people friendly. Yet one missing and key puzzle from many websites is the person’s name. The reason for this missing piece is that many websites are owned by non-employed businesses (businesses without employees) or what is called “Single Office Home Office” (SOHO). These dedicated entrepreneurs in their desire to appear bigger than they actually are will talk in generic terms about their team, but do not provide specifics such as their real names.  Unfortunately, this mindset violates the first two of the three sales buying rules and immediately begins to create sales objections.

For example, today I received a Twitter follower notice.  I clicked on the website and was taken to a site that had very little traffic (presuming this from Alexa.com ranking). Then I attempted to learn who the actual person was behind the Twitter handle.  I had to go to Amazon.com to find the book that was being promoted to learn the author’s name. (The graphic of the book was so small I could not read the name.)  Then I did a quick “Google” search and very little appeared.  Even though the website had social media links, in the first 10 hits, 7 hits were about the book with one being social media, Facebook. LinkedIn, GooglePlus and the primary website did not show up on page one. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  To be the Red jacket requires 100% alignment between all marketing mediums.

If I was searching for leadership training or leadership development, this site leaves out the Who and Where on its primary website even though its Twitter ID indicates Washington, D.C.  In a few quick strokes of the key I did manage to locate the individual on LinkedIn and possibly he does not need to have alignment between his marketing messages.  His LinkedIn profile shows his corporate logo and not a face which is a big No No for LinkedIn. (I am surprised he has not been reported.)  And again, if people buy from people they know and trust, not having a real picture is like waving a the Red No Trust Flag. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  If your name cannot be easily found, most people will not make any additional attempts to learn more about you.

In this age when people can write anything on their blogs and websites, establishing first glance credibility through your web presence is critical and must include your name.  From a quick review of this particular business, it appears this individual is leveraging existing government relationships and does not need to actively market his services.   His website is more of a billboard than an inbound marketing channel. This reminds me of the old story about putting all your eggs in one basket as well as build it and they will come.

Yes, your web presence must be people friendly to increase sales.  What that means is to make sure you include your real name in your site whether it is under the tag “about” or “about us” some other descriptor such as internal hot links.  Remember people friendly means first people and second friendly. People from my observations and own personal behaviors do not buy from robots or vague businesses.

If people buy from people they know and trust, then maybe it is time to match your business ethics and values with your potential customers (prospects) as you look to increase sales.  Sharing high business ethics and values have been an important criteria for me in my executive corporate consulting and small business coaching practice. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Know the three basic sales buying rules.

David Logan author of Tribal Leadership addressed this issue in a recent blog over at BNet. Even though his posting is more about internal customers (employees), the same applies to external ones.

There are some clients who have a high PITA factor either from the very beginning or actually due to be spoiled by the salesperson’s attention the PITA factor grows.  Now depending upon the profit margin, some PITA customers are worth keeping while with others their are no dollars that can justify having this customer. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  PITA – Pain in the _ _ _

One of my clients, Rick Gosser, shared with me he recently fired a client.  I asked him how he felt about this and his response was great.  He further stated the client was a nice person, but this person’s values and his values were clashing after the second order. The grief and aggravation was not worth the nice profit margin. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Discovering this early in the sales relationship is far better than discovering it later.

Over the years I too have had to fire a client.  Thanks heavens those firings and have few and far between.  What I have learned is that I accepted the client because I wanted to increase sales or that I had not invested enough time in learning about the client’s core positive business ethics and values.  From these firings, I have added this qualifying sales criteria:  Must be committed to taking action.

Sometimes even with the best due diligence, salespersons secure “stinky,” demanding over the top clients.  Nothing is ever right.  Continued redo’s and additional solutions are expected without cost to the customer. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  By spelling out what you are going to deliver in your statement of work or proposal helps to avoid what is called “scope creep.”

One of the first actions to take before meeting with a potential client is to do some research regarding his or her business ethics and values.  By checking out the customer’s website, reading the corporate values statement, looking at some social media sites such as LinkedIn, all help to understand the prospect’s surface business ethics and values.  Then after meeting him or her you can better determine the extent of his or her business ethics and values.

Yes times are tough and no one wants to lose a client. However, sometimes by ensuring your business ethics and values match your potential customers’ will not only help you to increase sales, but may potentially help to reduce stress and stay even more focused with those customers that appreciate you.

If you are looking for a how to increase sales tips, then start with a “Be Human” belief or attitude.  People buy from other people they know and trust – humans – not robots.  How many times a day do you receive an unsolicited email or even an email from a business acquaintance where your first name is never used? Sales Training Coaching Tip:  If you remember the three sales buying rules, this may help you to begin to overcome the five sales objections.

This past week I connected with another sales coach on LinkedIn per his invitation and sent him a message about setting an appointment just to learn more about each other. His second message to me did not even include my first name.  I could tell this was a cut and paste message.  Talk about being impersonal or not human.

One of my colleagues, Dan Waldschmidt said:

“We do not have a selling problem,

we have a caring problem.”

I could not agree more.  How many times do we attend business to business networking events and suddenly we find ourselves in the pump and dump interactions as coined by another colleague Jeb Blount?  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Get a copy of People Buy You to better understand how to be human.

President Theodore Roosevelt said:

“No one cares how much you know

until they know how much you care.”

So next week as you continue to work your goal to increase sales, embrace the words of Roosevelt, Blount and Waldschdmit,  Start demonstrating you are a human being instead of a self serving, self promoting salesperson.  Possibly the reason you are so crazy busy is you are working too hard selling and not working hard enough to truly care?

Sales Cartoon

Credit-www.funnysalescartoons.com

Sales Quote

“You cannot sell yourself to others;

you have to get others to buy you on

their terms.”

Jeb Blount

The passing of Steve Jobs for me reflects how vision,  innovation and emotion when united can increase sales, develop very loyal customers and ultimately be the winning formula for business success.

Vision

Vision to see what others have failed to see is the first step.  There have been many visionaries in our history from the early scientists who were punished for what they saw to the Founding Father of United States of American to individuals such as Mother Theresa.

Years ago I came across this Chinese Proverb and it is one I repeat regularly to my sales coaching and strategic planning clients and when I am asked to deliver a keynote speech.

Vision without Action is a Daydream;

Action without Vision is a Nightmare.

Each of us can be visionaries like Steve Job. Our success financially may never equal his, but that should not stop us from thinking towards the future.

Innovation

Innovation is truly about having a vision and taking action to as Captain Picard of star Trek so often said:

“Make it so!”

Yes, others created the successful products of Apple. However, Jobs role was to be the forward thinking leader who challenged what could not be done.

Emotion

Jobs understood the second sales buying rule extremely well:

People buy first on emotion; justified by logic.

Technology customers wanted products that were reliable; that were cutting edge; that worked with their lives and that were functional and yet had a unique form. This want was 100% purely emotional and that emotion created a very strong and loyal customers’ bond between Apple and the users of Apple products.

Job’s complete understanding of this second buying rule worked not only with the third sales buying rule, but helped to overcome the fourth sales objection – Price.  Customers were willing to pay more for an Apple product.

By uniting an incredible vision, innovation and emotion, Jobs was able to craft a winning increase sales formula. And beyond being an individual of value, my sense is this is his greatest legacy.

Credit www.sxc.hu

Many times sales coaches or business improvement consultants are hired because there is a sales problem. Yet, after the dust settles, the real problem is not how to increase sales (even though there is always room for improvement), but rather marketing.  Part of this reasoning is that confusion still reigns as to what is marketing, selling and sales.

Marketing is not glossy brochures or “fancy, dancy” websites or thousands of direct mail pieces. These are the actions of marketing.  The purpose of marketing is pretty straight forward:

• Attract attention (positive is usually better than negative)
• Build a relationship

The end result of marketing is:

• To make a friend
• To be asked back for that first 15 to 30 minute one on one face to face meeting (phone calls permitted as well)

This past week I have devoted considerable time and energy to marketing from how to increase sales tips through free PR to today’s business column over at the Post-Tribune where I wrote about the 3 Bs of business and the cascade effect of poor marketing messages:

• Boring
• Befuddled
• Broke

Also later today, September 26,  at 9am, 2pm and 7pm eastern time, I will be sharing some thoughts on marketing over at the Michigan Business Network. In all  instances, the focus is on creating an emotional engaging marketing message especially the response to this question:

What do you do?

The key word here is emotional because as the second sales buying rule states:

People buy first on emotions; justified by logic.

This week I am giving a presentation over at the Hammond Innovation Center on Fourth Quarter Scramble.  Again, this presentation will focus more on integrated marketing rather than on selling. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Effective marketing will pull you closer to your potential customer or prospect.

For the past 6 years I have been learning more and more about marketing especially within this digital 2.0 world as well as traditional marketing. Yes for some very savvy Internet marketers they will say it is beyond 2.0. However for the sake of those who are not as nearly as experienced, 2.0 is still an accurate designation.  What I have learned is that without a solid and firm integrated marketing plan  supported by an incredibly emotional and engaging marketing message, small business owners will still remain pocket poor (translated as no increase sales).

One way to determine if you have a marketing problem is to look at how many people (sales leads) you connect with and how many people becomes your friend and ask you back for that coveted get to know you first time appointment.  A sales problem would be you have the first time to second time appointments to sixth time appointments, but cannot earn the close the sale.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Knowing your numbers is critical to business and sales success.

The goal to increase sales is critical for surviving and thriving in today’s global market place. However, make sure you truly have a sales problem (meaning you are not converting your sales leads) to ensure your ultimate goal that being to increase sales.

P.S. In my book, Be the Red jacket, I devote considerable time to this confusion between marketing, selling and sales. Reading this book may help you better assess your awareness, create greater clarity and energize your sales execution.  The book is also available in a Kindle edition.