Strategy December 22, 2014
Sales Boost: Step 1
propel your sales forward this month with these five steps
CULTIVATE SUCCESS
Increase your sales – and your happiness – by forming winning habits that set you up for achievement.
Quiz: Do You Practice Habits That Will Help You Sell More?
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you always take responsibility for your decisions and the subsequent consequences? | ||
| Do you understand yourself – your character values and your life goals? | ||
| Do you consistently seek to better yourself personally and professionally? | ||
| Do you empathize with clients? | ||
| Do you more often look at the upside of a situation? | ||
| Is providing a solution that will truly work for a client a top priority for you? | ||
| Do you consistently exhibit a good work ethic? | ||
| Are you persistent? | ||
| Do you map out practical steps for achieving broader goals? | ||
| Do you use free time productively, recharging through positive activities like exercise, prayer/meditation, quality reading or even volunteering? |
What To Do With Your Quiz Results
Congratulations for every “yes” answer you gave. Continue cultivating these habits and, where applicable, expand upon them. Doing so will help you grow your business. At the same time, do not be dismayed by the “no” answers. These are exciting opportunities for improvement. If you start performing the actions suggested by the questions to which you answered “no,” then you’ll be better positioned to beat the competition, impress clients and grow your sales faster than before.
SIX HABITS FOR GREATER SALES
Start putting these habits into play to improve your performance and generate more revenue.
- Practice Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It is crucial to sales success. So, commit yourself to empathizing in personal and professional interactions. Do this often enough and it will become habit. You’ll be able to better understand your clients’ pain points, needs and objectives; this will help you develop better solutions that earn you client loyalty and more sales.
- Constantly Strive To Improve: Upper echelon performers in every field always work to get better. Do the same. Look to learn from more senior sales pros. Look to younger reps, too, for new perspectives. Seek insights from quality sales videos, articles and seminars produced by reputable sources. Most importantly, analyze your own performance. After each interaction with a client and prospect, question how you could have performed better. If you do this when calls go poorly and when they go well, you’re bound to improve your bottom line.
- Maintain a Strong and Steady Work Ethic: High-achieving sales reps are consistent in their business efforts. Strategic and persistent, they routinely apply the methods and work habits that lead to success, always resisting the temptation to slack off. “With consistency in your work habits, you’re more apt to be motivated, hopeful and have enough deals in your pipeline to keep your sales levels where you want them to be,” says Jonathan M. Bell, author of Suddenly Successful.
- Train Your Brain To Focus On The Positive: Be forward-thinking, focusing your attention on goals and the practical steps needed to achieve them. Start building this sunny outlook by being more mindful of your thought monologue. Catch those negative thoughts as they creep in and then reform them into positive ones. Turn, for instance, “This prospect is just going to buy from the Internet” into “I have a good plan for bringing value to this client that will encourage him to order from me.” A positive outlook will strengthen your confidence, which will radiate to prospects, making it more likely that they will order from you.
- Plan Your Day, Every Day: Writing down what you aim to accomplish in the day significantly increases the chances those things will get done. Prioritize the list, putting at the top the tasks that must be addressed. You may have to deviate from the list, but starting out with a framework gives you structure, keeps you organized and clarifies where you should be devoting attention. Such focus will make you more productive, enabling you to serve clients better. And superior service directly contributes to stronger sales.
- Practice Tactful Persistence: Top salespeople are consistently assertive without being aggressive. They pursue the sale with great passion using humor, scheduling follow-up times, bringing added value to the table and always having a valid reason for contacting the prospect. With strategic persistence, they keep client relationships amiable and earn more business.
Sales Boost: Step 1 | Sales Boost: Step 2 | Sales Boost: Step 3 | Sales Boost: Step 4 | Sales Boost: Step 5