As I stated earlier, everyone is in the business of selling and we are all sales persons as long as you can assert the power of influence; however it is important to note that certain characteristics distinguishes successful sales persons from other sales persons. Geoffrey James in his article: 5 Traits of Highly Successful Salespeople highlighted five traits that make successful salespeople stand out, namely: assertiveness, self-awareness, empathy, problem solving and optimism. However, before I jump into them I will like to add a number of traits that were left out which experience, training and extensive research over the years have helped me discover about being successful as a sales person, first of which is:
#1
Know what you are selling
Most
salespeople or people in business make this common mistake of selling things they are ill informed about or trying to
convince people to subscribe to what they are ill informed about, forgetting
the fact that not all clients are illiterates and even those that are
illiterates can be inquisitive in nature. Any buying customer wants to know why
he or she should spend his or her hard earned money on a product and what value
he or she will derive as a result of using the particular product or service.
Have you ever listened to a man who knows his onions about a particular product
or service speak about his or her product or service? They sound passionate
about it, they sound interesting and will go the extra mile to give you
information you did not ask for just to let you know why you should have that
product or why you should engage their services. On
the other hand, have you listened to a man or woman who is ill informed about
the product he or she is selling, they sound less interesting and quite boring.
Most times the people, who buy from them if they ever do, do so out of pity,
sympathy so that their effort will not be perceived as been wasted. Never sell
what you don’t know, it is quite hazardous.
#2
Persistence
Be
prepared to see doors slammed on your face, your calls been rejected by
prospective clients, but that shouldn’t deter you or make you wallow in what we
is call salesman remorse, nah! It
should rather urge you on. The most successful sales or business people are
those who have defied the odds, stood their ground and lived their dreams in
times of adversity. In fact one of the things that makes you a successful
entrepreneur is your ability to persist, tough
times don’t last but tough people last. Never give up, if they say “no,”
don’t think you are done for. One of the guys I respect a lot in the industry
Paul Foh said that each time he is told ‘NO’ he says ‘NEXT’, and I say ‘N – next O - opportunity’.
#3
Be prepared at all times
You
are to be prepared at all times like a man in
battle. When I started Beacon Media and
Communication Services one thing I ensured was that
I was always armed with the much needed information which clients might
want to know about my products and services. I update this information at
regular intervals to ensure they are not obsolete. I have had instances where
people call me up and ask that I send a quotation, proposals for specific
services or products, even when I am not in the office, but because I am armed
and prepared, I just bring out my mobile device, whether a tablet or an android
phone, edit what I need to edit and send to them ASAP. There are times when
people would want to get information from you impromptu about your goods and
services, what do you do? These are some of the questions you need to ask
yourself. I always carry my business card whether I am traveling or not, because
I never can tell where the next big deal will
come from or when I am going to close the next BIG deal. Never forget that your preparedness will determine to a large extent the
confidence people will repose in you. I remember meeting a prospective client
who I knew will not have enough time to listen
to me, all I did was give him my business card
and told him I have a number of services he might be interested in. He was
impressed with my level of preparedness and till today we still keep in touch,
and the better part is that a number of deals have sprung from that simple act
of being prepared. Till date I practice the act of been prepared at all times
and I am not relenting a bit. Don’t be like the marketer who has been chasing this billionaire around town for months to
open an account with his bank, after all said and done, this billionaire one
day puts a call through to this marketer to meet him at the airport where he was about boarding his
private jet to leave the country. He had informed the marketer that he had a cheque of over a hundred and fifty
millionaire to open the account, the excited marketer jumped into the car,
raced to the airport, only for him to get there and when the billionaire asked
for the account opening package, he just stood there starring at the
billionaire with his mouth wide opened because he had forgotten to bring along
the account opening package. Been prepared at all times will save you a lot of
stress and embarrassment and at the same time
will reward you greatly, as the Boys Scouts will say: “Be prepared!”
#4
Look Good
Looking
good like the cliché goes is good business. People judge you 90% from your
appearance before they even get to hear what you have to say. When you meet people, first impression
matters a lot, at this juncture style matters more than the substance you are
offering them. The way you smell, how well
ironed your shirt or suit is, the wrist watch you are wearing, how well
polished your shoes are, how clean you look, how clean your hair cut and your
shave is, are things we must not take lightly. It does not mean that you must
necessarily wear the most expensive things before
you can be regarded as a serious minded sales man, no, all I am saying is that
you should give whatever you are wearing an
expensive look. Iron your cloths well, wear a good perfume, cut your hair
nicely or get a good hairdo or braid for the ladies, avoid wearing suit without
socks for the guys. Always ensure your shoes colour matches with the colour of
your belt, the acceptable shoe colours in the corporate world are: brown and
black, anything outside that, you are on your own. The acceptable suit colours
in the corporate world are: navy blue, black, ash and grey and nothing more. I
was listening to Fela Durotoye speak and he said at the point in his life when
he knew he needed to up his game for his trainings to be approved by Chief
Executive Officers and not the Heads of Training, he said he knew he had to
look like a CEO himself in other to be able to get their attention. He started
by wearing pocket squares each time he wears suit and before you know it, he also
started dressing like CEOs, and before long he
started getting their attention. He looked like what he was selling: Solid
Solution, and today his company charge as much as Five Million Naira to
organize trainings for corporate organizations. Fela Durotoye said: “You can’t tell people you can help them make
five million Naira when you look like somebody who needs Ten Thousand Naira.”
Your knowledge of colour combination is also very important, ask questions and
learn from people with good dress sense. People will always want to have
something to do with those that reminds them of where they want to be or who
they are. This is what we refer to in Nigeria as selling point.
...from my soon to be released book
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