What do sales champions do better?

As with other forms of endeavour the world of sales has its champions and its ‘not so champions’.

It’s worthwhile to examine four key areas where the sales champions do it better and that contribute to their success.

The first is attitude; champions have a positive attitude; they are ‘glass half full people’. This is not to be confused with brashness, cockiness or being falsely ‘pumped up’. It is a quiet positiveness that affects all of their interactions on day-to-day basis. It also means that they respect their customers, their work colleagues, their product and, most importantly, their chosen vocation. This positiveness is infectious and helps sway customers during the sales process.

They also keep their ego under control. They realise that it’s possible to learn from the most humble of people so they are open to suggestion and don’t fear criticism.

Having a positive attitude also helps the champion deal with the inevitable knockbacks that come in selling without taking the rejection personally and getting down at heart. They realise that disappointments are part of sales so they simply dust themselves off and move on as if the disappointment hadn’t happened. This doesn’t mean that they don’t learn from their disappointments. They value the lessons that come from experience; they simply refuse to dwell on the negatives.

The second is knowledge. Champions know their product. They take the trouble to study the features of their product and the benefits those features provide. They do this because they know that customers buy benefits that they want or need. They also accept the responsibility of identifying the customer's wants and needs and helping the customer see that those wants and needs can be satisfied by the product.

This leads to another aspect of knowledge. The champion is a student of the sales business. They take the trouble to read about selling; they take the trouble to attend sales courses and refreshers to keep their knowledge bank ‘dusted off’ and open for business.

The third is the area of skills. Champions polish their skills by practising what they learn; they practise in the field and they also practise in the privacy of their business or their home.

They do this because they realise that sales is a ‘use it or lose it’ business.

The fourth is the area of habits. Champions realise that successful people do the things that others don’t like to do – so they develop the habit of doing those very things.

They realise that sales is, to a large extent, a numbers game. This means that they consistently achieve a high level of sales activity; this has the effect of making the numbers work for them rather than against them. They have a daily and weekly sales routine that they stick to. They maintain the habit of conducting high-quality sales discussions/presentations by sticking to their planned structure.

They are in the habit of keeping good records including activity and results records. This enables them to evaluate their performance on an on-going basis in order to find opportunities for improvement. It also means that if things go ‘off the boil’ problems can be identified quickly and fixed before they do too much damage.

Here are some tips on becoming a sales champion

1) Protect and nurture your attitude; don’t mix with negative people, rather expose yourself to positive influences. Recognise that you have the power to choose your own attitudes – use it.

2) Look at your product from the customer’s point of view. What benefits does it provide? How will those benefits satisfy the customer’s needs and wants?

3) Become a student of the sales business; go out of your way to learn from others and through reading. The knowledge gained will provide a firm foundation for a long and successful career.

4) Set aside time to practise your sales skills; enlist the help of a colleague or family member to play the part of the customer. Get used to hearing your own voice saying what it is that you want to say.

5) Recognise that our habits will either make us or break us. Be diligent in developing good work habits and avoid short cuts. Get into the habit of making one extra sales call before knocking off for the day. That would give around 250 extra sales calls in a year – how many extra sales could you expect from that?


(The up-coming post for Monday 16/3 is Using the Wish List question to sell more. It's about a simple yet effective way of finding out about a customer's future purchasing plans.)