How Do You Become A Better Salesperson?

Today we’re going to discuss how to become

a better salesperson?

First I’m going to share with you the three main principles you will need if you want to be a great salesperson. Next I am going to share what to do if you get in a slump. Lastly, I want to share with you one powerful concept to make sales easier.

What are the three principles to be a great salesperson?

All right so what are the three principles to be a great salesperson? They all start with the letter P. Pipeline, position and posture. I’m going to dive into each and every one.

Number one, pipeline.

This is such a basic concept but so many people don’t get it. They don’t know why they are not making sales because they don’t understand this concept. Pipeline is how many people you’re reaching out to, following up with, how many appointments are you setting, how many demonstrations if that’s the kind of thing that you’re selling, right? How many…..it’s the “how many.”

How many people are you talking to? If you’re not talking to very many people then you shouldn’t be making very much money, that’s just the way that it works.

This is a concept that I learned very early on when I was 18 years old. I was in telemarketing and I sucked. I heard this phrase “what you lack in skill, make up for in numbers” and so I just started dialing more than everybody else. I started making 450 calls a day and guess what? I got in the top two percent of that company. Along the way I also improve my skill set by just doing that many calls. If you’re putting in any kind of awareness then it’s hard not to improve with that many calls. It was me talking to more people than most of the other sales people. So that is pipeline.

Number two, position.

This involves you listening and being aware. Position is where your prospect is…. This is a piece inside the pipeline, because this is pertaining to a prospect. What position are they in? Are they someone that expressed interest and you sent them information, then they ghosted you? Well that’s different than someone who never expressed interest. Understand the position of the prospect.

I’m going to give you an example. I’ve had people in the past that they said “hey, I’d like more information.“ I send it over to them and they go through the information and they say “nah, it’s not for me.“ Well, I know something very powerful when it comes to position. They expressed interest and actually looked at the information. Now I will rely on position and ask them this question, “what were you hoping to see?” The powerful thing about “what were you hoping to see” (once someone has requested and consumed information) is I’ve never heard an answer that I couldn’t actually help resolve. I’ve never had someone say well I was hoping to grow my arm back or I was hoping I could pour it on grass outside and a gold tree would sprout from the ground…..I’ve never heard anything crazy. When I asked what were you hoping to see, I actually get an answer that I can help resolve. Understanding position involves you listening and being aware of where the prospect is in relation to your business (product, service or opportunity).

Number three, Posture.

Posture is you not needing them. Now here’s a funny thing…..everyone has posture. You have posture around something. If someone came to you and said “hey man, I was on WikiLeaks last night and it turns out electricity, it’s a scam.” “You’d say uh, hmm, right?” You turn off the lamp and you’re like yeah, I think it’s pretty real. You may not know how it works but you don’t think it’s a scam. You’re postured around electricity. You need to be postured around whatever the thing is that you’re selling. You need to know that it does help people, it solves a problem or it helps them attain a desire or something.

If you’re not postured around the thing that you’re selling then you’re going to really struggle with sales. You’re going to come across as desperate or needy. Desperation never works in sales. If you ever want to experience this, just go to the bank when you really need a loan. They’ll call security on you, “get this guy out of here.” So desperation doesn’t work. You have to be postured, you have to be okay if someone says no to you, it’s not that big of a deal.

Those are the three principles of you being a better salesman. Pipeline, position, posture. Understand those three and you’re on your way to making more sales.

What do you do if you get in a slump?

Understand that quitting doesn’t speed anything up. Understanding the consequences of quitting is very important for you. Why did you start whatever it is that you’re doing right now? Why did you start, what were you hoping to gain? Is that still important to you and what are the ramifications of quitting?

The second little phrase that I’ll throw at you is “sometimes the only way through is through.” You actually going through. This means showing up when you don’t feel like it. This means not requiring the desire to do something and actually doing it anyway. This is a muscle that so few people build. You should not require the feeling of wanting to do something that’s going to further your life or further your business, you should get yourself to be more defiant and do it anyway.

All of us want to enjoy the birthday cake, none of us want to do the prospecting but by not eating the birthday cake, doing the prospecting, we build a business. Stop requiring yourself to feel like doing the work before you do it.

If you’re in a slump, increase your numbers. I know you don’t want to hear that but that is the key. That’s the key for you to reach out to more people. Double your efforts and you will get out of that slump.

Let’s hear from you!

I would love to hear from you. Where do you struggle in sales? Is it follow-up? Is it just the initial conversation? Where do you struggle? I would love to give you some personal advice. I do read and respond to every single comment so drop me a comment, let me know where you are struggling.

How do you make sales easier?

There’s one thing that I have found that people that struggle with sales tend to not do and that is follow-up. Now, let me give you a little background on this. About two years ago, I hired Grant Cardone. I don’t know if you know who Grant Cardone is but he’s a big dog, billion dollar net worth real estate guy. I hired him for a hundred thousand dollars for six hours of his time, that’s about $17,000 an hour. Kind of crazy, right?

I mean I could have bought six not so great cars with that money. But…..I wanted to tell you in the very first hour with Grant, he gave me a different way of thinking about running my business that made me an additional million dollars that year. So, that one hour made me a million dollars more in that same year.

Why am I bringing this up? Well….I got to spend some time with his team. He is a sales training guru. He trains companies and individuals how to be better at sales. I spent some time with his head of sales and I asked the question, “okay what percentage-wise of your sales are made on the very first contact?” This is a professionally trained sales team, they’re very good at what they do and are very skilled. They study Grant’s sales material every single day. So what do you think the answer was? What sales percentage is made on the first contact? Professional sales team, highly trained, the answer is 2%.

That means that 98% of their income comes from follow-up. So if you’re not doing follow-up, you are working too hard. Stop it, stop working so hard. Work smarter and do follow ups. You have to build that muscle. If you want to make a bigger impact and help more people and make more money, get into the follow-up game.

Here’s what I’m going to do. I didn’t have time to jump into all the nuances of how to follow up…..so I’m going to give you the link to a video on exactly how to crush it with follow-up. This is something that easily could double or triple your income with your existing workload, your existing number of leads that you’re generating or people you’re talking to about your product, service or opportunity.

If you would like to get better follow-up, click the link https://youtu.be/FVcbERtFkis (it is a YouTube video you can watch for free) and I know it’s going to help you.