The ABCs of a Successful Salesperson

Being a Success Salesperson is a journey and not a destination. No matter how many cars you sell every month, you can always do better. In this business if you are not growing your business, then your business is dying.

Here are my ABCs of a successful salesperson:

A is for ATTITUDE. I have never met a successful salesperson that did not have a positive attitude. Positivity is contagious and a successful salesperson spreads this to everyone they meet.

B is for Be Interested; you can be interesting later. People do not care about how much you know, until they know how much you care. Show the customer that you are interested in them by listening to them. Then use that information to be interesting to them later.

C is for Creativity. You can not be successful if you are like everyone else. You must differentiate yourself from the crowd of other salespeople out there. You do this by being creative.

D is for DO IT TODAY. If not today, when? DO NOT put off something until tomorrow when you can DO IT TODAY! Tomorrow is always a day away.

E is for the Everyday Commitment to get better. If you are not honing your craft and getting better every day, then you are going backwards, and your skills are slipping. Even the best of the best practice every day.

F is for Fun! If you are not having fun in this business, then you should probably get out. You have to love what you do, to become the best at it. Having fun makes falling in love with being a salesperson a whole lot easier.

G is for Gratitude. Be grateful! You must take the time to appreciate all of the things you do have, instead of wasting time worrying about what you don’t have.

H is for Heavy Lifting. Anything worthwhile always requires a heavy lift upfront. This fact is biggest reason most salespeople fail. They are not willing to put in the work required to be successful and if they try to put in the work, they give up before getting the desired results, DON’T GIVE UP!

I is for Investigator. Like all of the fancy CSI or Detective TV shows, in order to solve the mystery, or earn the sales, you must be an investigator. You must uncover your customers, wants & needs, likes & dislikes, and must haves & can’t stands. Without this information you can’t close the sale and your customer will get away!

J is for Jerks. Sometime customers are just jerks, and that is ok. The problem is that most salespeople do not have enough business in their pipeline, that they must deal with these jerks. However, if a salesperson has enough repeat & referral business in their pipe, then they do not have to deal with the jerks and they can politely decline to do business with them.

K is for Knowledge that is used is Power. It has long been said that knowledge is power, however I would disagree. It is only knowledge that is used is power. If you know something and never put it to use, then you might as well have never learned it in the first place. This applies to training and customer hot buttons.

L is for Laughter. I am a firm believer that if you can get a customer to laugh you can get them to buy.

M is for More Actions. The more quality actions you complete each day, the better your sales results will be. This is a simple mathematical formula. Quality actions are work that earn results. Commit to the Daily 100 Challenge.

N is for NO NEGATIVITY ALLOWED. You must not only rid yourself of negativity, but you must also remove the negativity around you. Stop interacting with negative salespeople, negative friends, and if needed, limit time with negative family members. ONLY POSITIVITY ALLOWED!

O is for Out of the Box thinking. You must be willing to do what others will not. The more you can differentiate yourself by bringing value to your customers, the more customers you will have.

P is for Passionate. The more love you have for what you do, the more passion you will have for it. This passion will drive you to continue to improve and reap the rewards of these efforts.

Q is for Quality and Quantity. If you are going to do something, you might as well do it right. With proper planning you do not have to choose between quality and quantity of your efforts. YOU CAN DO BOTH!

R is for Reciprocity. Reciprocity is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. This is the foundation to building repeat and referral business. Your key to never taking a fresh lead again!

S is for Satisfaction is not enough. To many people and businesses focus on Customer Satisfaction, which is a mistake because satisfaction only temporary. You must focus on Customer Loyalty because loyalty is forever. As long as you are committed to continually earning it.

T is for Training. The best of the best never stop training. They recognize there is always something more to learn and improve. It has been said, “The biggest room in the world, is the room for improvement.”

U is for Unrelenting Commitment to your customers. You must always believe in what you are doing is the right thing for you customer. If you truly believe this, you will stop at nothing to help them. Doing what is best for your customer, will be what is best for you, and you both will win. Commit!

V is for Victory. Everyone likes to win. In sales, the first sale is not the victory, however it is only the beginning. You must continue to build wins with every customer, and then you will achieve true Victory.

W is for coming to Work to Work. Sales can hard work. Not that sales are hard, however in most selling environments you must be self-motivated and self-disciplined. There is no one really holding you accountable for your daily actions or activities. This causes most salespeople to become lazy and wait for what ever business happens to come their way. However, the most successful salespeople come to work to work and get 10+ hours’ worth of work completed in an 8-hour shift.

X is for eXtra Mile. You have to be willing to go the extra mile for your customers. Once again, you must do what others are not will to. This will not only build customer loyalty, but it will also build your own repeat and referral network.

Y is for YOLO. You Only Live Once, go for it! Commit to making the most out of everything you do, everyday!

Z is for Zany. Life, both personally and business, is meant to be fun. It certainly is a whole lot more enjoyable when it is. While saving the best for last, always remember to have a little fun while you are working, it just might be the difference in your success.