1. I think everyone would agree with this statement:
Better sales people sell more than average sales people.
Better sales performance is not a matter of inheriting the best customer, or falling into a lucky deal. Those things happen occasionally, but year in and year out, the best performing sales people are those who āsell betterā than the rest. They do something, and usually a lot of things, better than their colleagues. As a result,
their customers respond more positively to them, and the sales people post better numbers. They sell more because they act differently. Not just differently ā but better.
There is a direct relationship between what the sales person does and how much he sells. Hereās a simple example. One study found that 74 percent of purchasing agents said they would be āmuch more likely to buy from a sales person, if that person would just listen.ā Doesnāt it follow, then, that those sales people who listen better
sell more than those who donāt? So, if you could help all of your sales people listen better, wouldnāt that result in more sales? Of course it would. And listening is just one of a number of sales practices that are essential to better sales performance.
Thatās my point. What a sales person does directly and measurably impacts how much a sales person sells. And better sales people, because they do things better, sell more than average sales people.
2. Most of my readers would also agree with this statement:
Almost every sales person can become better.
One of the things that I have most enjoyed about my career as a sales person has been the fact that I have never yet reached my potential. I can always do better. And, frankly, Iām a pretty good sales person.
Iām not perfect yet, even though I have tried to get there my whole life. Rarely does a day go by that I donāt find myself saying, āI should have done this or that better.ā Unfortunately, it is in the nature of sales that one is never as good as he can be. Vince Lombardi aptly summed up the challenge of continuous improvement in a
different area:
We will relentlessly pursue perfection, knowing full well that we will never attain it, because no one is perfect. But, we will chase perfection, because in the process we will catch excellence.
Put these two paradigms together and you have a pretty good rationalization for continuous and immediate sales training. If better sales practices bring in more money, and every sales person can become better, then investing in making them better will bring in more money.
How can you afford the luxury of not improving the practices of your sales team...[Read More]
