🔊 Listen to this

How do you land that multimillion-dollar deal? How do you become one of those super-self-confident sales guys who doesn’t shake in front of a big and powerful customer? How do you become the “best in class” of your team? You’re aware of the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in this role, but is that it? Anyone nowadays can acquire skills and knowledge, so does that mean anyone can be a salesperson? Sorry, not that simple. There are a couple of things to add up and are not so easy to acquire. How do you become a top sales executive?

I strongly recommend that on your first customer visits (and also later, once in a while) you go together with a colleague. He can be an experienced sales manager, marketing manager or technical colleague. Don’t feel that you’re being judged or examined – consider it as giving you more confidence. Doing this allows you to:

Feel more relaxed and at ease as there are two of you, one can always go in “support” of the other.

Have more time to observe.

Your colleague will probably raise questions you wouldn’t think about.

Ask him for feedback on your overall performance (body language, quality of questions, leading the discussion). This is absolutely crucial as we can’t see ourselves and often we have the wrong idea of how we do things.

The best sales managers weren’t born that way. They too have come a long way. It’s an ongoing process. Of maturation, of learning, of closing gaps, of observing, of letting go and of losing deals.

Remember, it’s all about people.

Things to have in mind embracing a sales career: Attitudes and behaviours.

Empathy: Ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Capacity to listen. To encourage purchasers to expose their objections, their doubts, their market view.

To encourage purchasers to expose their objections, their doubts, their market view. Consistent Practic e: Action is key, feedback is a must, failing is part of the process.

e: Action is key, feedback is a must, failing is part of the process. Persuasion: Action aimed to change a person’s attitude or behavior.

Action aimed to change a person’s attitude or behavior. Influence: The act of producing effects on the actions, behavior or opinions of another.

The act of producing effects on the actions, behavior or opinions of another. Capacity to build trust and long-term relationships. Technology can enable and speed up processes, but people are at the heart of anything being transmitted from A to B in the corporate world.

Technology can enable and speed up processes, but people are at the heart of anything being transmitted from A to B in the corporate world. Clear communication. Don’t communicate drop by drop, send all the info at once. Don’t refer to abstract comparisons (this is 10% more productive. More productive than what?)

This is an excerpt of my book “sales is my passion”, available here: http://amzn.to/2DY7nVy