You’ve checked out the merchandise you plan to sell. You’ve selected the best values for both cost and quality that you are certain will generate rampant excitement in your customers. This stuff is practically guaranteed to jump from the display into the customer’s hearts and lives! It just doesn’t get any better, does it?
Well, how about the impeccability of your sales talent? And that includes you and your sales staff!
In-depth product knowledge is an absolute must! Even for those delicious products that have just reached your sales floor. Being familiar with the manufacturer of goods, the manner that they do business, the attention to detail, the quality of their metals and their stones, the way they market their products, their willingness to stand behind their products, their pricing policies and their ability to modify their products to fit the demands of the market comprise the information that will serve you well in precisely meeting the needs of each of your customers.
Being honest, to a fault, is the first step toward building relationships with customers. Being truthful, with a sense of kindness, is the demonstration of the level of honesty that a person embraces. Having integrity is simply doing what you say you’re going to do, when you said that you’d do it. The more highly developed these values and skills, the more trustworthy the individual. For a customer to trust a salesperson, it is important to have social evidence of the levels in operation of each of the components.
If a salesperson is authentic and obviously cares deeply about meeting the specific needs of the customer, then we can assume a value of service and reliability exists within the relationship. Caring, both about the desires of the customer and the development of one’s sales ability can be learned. No one is perfect at always manifesting these talents to the level of 100 percent. As a salesperson, the commitment one has to honing each of these skills determines the level of success one can achieve in the field of sales.
As one of my favorite managers told me early in the game of sales, “It ain’t easy, but it ain’t rocket science!” Because of this fact, each salesperson has within them the seeds of being fabulous. The care with which one nurtures those seeds determines the quality and the quantity of their development. You, as a salesperson, get to choose the level of competence you will attain!
Author, trainer, consultant, and speaker Brad Huisken is President of IAS Training. Huisken has authored several books and training manuals on sales and produces a Weekly Sales Training Meeting video series along with Aptitude Tests and Proficiency Exams for new hires, current sales staff and sales managers. In addition, he publishes a free weekly newsletter called “Sales Insight” For a free subscription or more information contact IAS Training at 800-248-7703 or info@iastraining.com. Visit his website at www.iastraining.com.
