(plus an important bonus 8th one)
Pay-off: avoid being an average/mediocre sales person
Investment: >1 min
Persistence
“Never give in! Never never never…”….except…when flogging a dead horse. Better to know when to adapt, when to quit and move on, and when it really is right to persist.
Likeability
“People buy from people they like”…except…when they buy from people they don’t necessarily like but do respect their professional frank opinion, or when they are in it for the value.
Selling style
“Sell to others in the way you would like to be sold to”…except…when you realise that they are not you and that they might like to make their buying decisions a little differently to you. Better to help them buy in the way that they want to buy.
Cold Calling
“Cold calling works!”…except…all those times it doesn’t. Come on. There’s no need to make calls ‘cold’ anymore. There’s enough information and connections out there for you to warm things up if you care to find it.
Positive Thinking
“Be positive”…except…when it’s more important to think and act in a useful manner that maintains your position of strength as you head boldly towards your goals. Try switching positive thinking for useful thinking.
Swallow the Frog First
“Swallow the frog first! Do your hardest call or task first”…except…when it pays to get into a more ‘warmed up and motivated’ state of mind by knocking over a series of small wins first. Athletes stretch. Opera singers do vocal warm ups.
Credibility
“Demonstrate your expertise to build credibility!”..except…when you haven’t shown your customer the courtesy of trying to understand them, their situation, business, challenges and goals first. Expertise running swiftly down the wrong path just looks dumb.
The bonus no. 8
Caveat Emptor!
“Caveat Emptor!”…except…when you’re a good honest sales professional trying to add value and sell fairly and authentically, and your buyers take your time, ideas, insights, quotes, proposals and free tasters from you with no intention of buying, in which case…“caveat venditor!” (seller beware!)
Of course there are things you can do to protect yourself which I’ll save for another day.
Revenue-generating behaviours
Note, you can learn these ideas from an article like this…except…when you want your team to embed them behaviourally in to their day to day sales/BD approach in which case contact me here for help.
