The Sales Professional’s Guide to Creating Positive Images

1. The Sales Professional’s Guide to Creating Positive Images Are you aware that 80% of people who choose a career in selling don’t complete their first year in their chosen industry? They quite often attempt to sell in a different industry for a while but very few who enter the field of selling actually succeed. If you want to build a sales career for yourself you will first need to overcome the consumer’s preconceived opinion of the salesperson. It’s a sad fact that salespeople are at the bottom of the trust rung, this has come about through dishonest salespeople treating their customers poorly, even dishonestly. The information I am about to share with you, will if practiced diligently, lift your profile to that of the sales professional which promises a lifetime of the type of work, money, respect, and pleasure you will be excited to pursue every day. 1: Successful Probing To Build Trust: Most people have only a vague idea of what they want but they are quick to list what they don’t want. The top gun sales professional who continues to lead the pack has learned how to finely tune their probing skills.

2. Many professionals likeL. Robert Jellinek prefer to work on the demand and uncover their wants. Remember, most people don’t really know what this is and are often unclear on how to articulate it. If you guess about what they want, don’t have a mutual understanding of the outcomes and rewards or don’t know what has or will stop them and don’t know how they will make a decision, or what resources they will apply to get a solution that meets their needs, you will likely miss the target and trust will suffer. 2: Promise And Deliver: It sounds simple but it is one of the most overstated and underused of principles. Salespeople quite often add a sweetener to get the deal done and it is a well- understood concept but quite often they offer more and then forget or don’t bother to follow through. If you promise something, follow-through is essential — it continues to build trust. If there is a reason why you can’t deliver what was promised speak with the recipient and explain, then ask them to decide how things should proceed from here. If they still demand what you initially promised then you are obligated to see it through! 3: Get It Right In Your Own Mind: Transparency is a fabulous building block to trust. Consumers are savvy, they understand that the sale benefits the salesperson — why else would you do the job. But what the consumer needs to see is a mutual benefit; they don’t mind the deal being good for you as long as it serves them well first. Be clear in your own mind as to what each deal has to offer — be so clear that it becomes second nature and this will allow you to sell fearlessly and enjoy the process. 4: Rejections: Consumers have either experienced first-hand or at least heard the stories of bad experiences with salespeople. Generally, a sales situation deteriorates due to a lack of trust or transparency from either or both parties. But your initial defense against rejection is to avoid using terminology, that triggers rejection. 5: Follow Up: Finding customers is a constant hurdle for any business, expensive mass marketing is generally the process most businesses use to address this problem. But if you, sales professional recognize the potential of each customer to return to you for more business or equally important — that they feel impressed enough with you that they will refer people to you, then you will never have to mass market again. The 80/20 rule is a proven ratio of 80% of your business coming from 20% of your consumer base. Successful businesses use this information well. After-sales services only seem to be of interest to the big

3. companies but each of us can practice this regularly to set ourselves above our competition. It can be as simple and easy to follow up call or even simpler — an email. 6: Keep Learning: Sales professionals are those people who have learned quickly that their income is in direct proportion to their ability to give people what they want. We choose sales as a career because we can control our income — if we need more money we go and sell more! Those who can’t master this thinking don’t last long. And those who work out quickly what is needed and not readily supplied to exceptionally well. Find a niche market and you will design your own income but remember you have to stay ahead of the game. Experts like L. Robert Jellinek prefer to learn different sales techniques accurately by knowing their outcomes so that you can work on them. Learning is important as it keeps you growing in this industry to the top. 7: The Power Of Positive Thinking: Yes, we all know what this entails but how often do we practice it? Seriously, make yourself do it. Create a vision wall for yourself with the things you want —  a new car, a holiday overseas, home upgrade — there is no limit to what we can achieve. Positive affirmations are also important especially if you are having a rejection day. It is true that most people can tell you more about what they don’t want than what they do want. And focusing on the don’t want blocks the positive power of concentrating on want you do want. Train yourself to think only of what you want to happen now, today, tomorrow and picture a successful outcome. A true sales professional is just the kind of seller you would love to have if you were the buyer. One you could really trust and admire. Sales are the end motive of an organization and for this, you might have to spend money on different advertisements and promotional works. For this, you should maintain your image and work on your tagline which should serve a purpose.