10 Ways to Improve Your Sales Success!

Having worked with 1,000's of salespeople, I can tell you that unfortunately there have been far more examples of unsuccessful salespeople than successful ones.

Why do you think this is true?

• Why do only three out of every ten salespeople meet or exceed their sales goals every month?
• Why do 67% of salespeople fail to have sales goals?
• Why are 80+% of the sales made by less than 20% of salespeople?

Here are 10 ways to improve your Sales Success!

Commit to Selling.

Unfortunately, 80% of salespeople aren't committed to sales as a profession. Unless you're committed to Sales as your lifelong profession and passion, you will always struggle to succeed.

All highly successful Sales Professionals are genuinely passionate about what they do, and they love their sales careers. They genuinely want to understand the customer and their unique needs and how what they sell fits into that picture, and how they can improve their life.

There's no way around it; you're going to have to find a way to fall in love with selling if you ever expect to become a Sales Professional and be successful at selling.

You're going to have to invest mentally, physically, and monetarily in your sales career. You'll have to make whatever sacrifices are needed to become the BEST you can be at what you do, the BEST, day in and day out.

Develop Follow-up Skills.

Unfortunately, less than 20% of salespeople follow up with prospects for more than 30 days, even though the customers' buying process is 6 to 9 months. In addition, only 49% of salespeople respond in a timely manner, and the customer considers timely, the (same day.)

Being the sales professional that follows up timely and continues to follow up until they buy is the difference between winning and losing.

Excellent follow-up doesn't just mean responding quickly; it also means staying proactive and being creative with your communication until the customer is ready to purchase. No matter how long that is.

This is an area in which you should excel as a Sales Professional because none of your competition is following up. This is a great way to get ahead of the competition.

Learn to Listen.

We've all seen salespeople, both beginners, and those that have been doing it for a while, who talk way TOO much! This is such a common mistake.

Here's what buyers want from sales pros?

• 72% say, "I want them to listen to my needs."
• 69% say, "I don't want them to be pushy."
• 61% say, "We want them to make the experience about us."

Being a good listener is probably the most overlooked and underutilized sales skill. Many sales reps spend far too much time talking and nowhere near enough time listening to the customer's story and what they want.

Ask great questions and then listen attentively, pay attention, the customer will tell you everything you need to know.

Since there are so few good listeners these days, those who are will stand out in the customer's mind. This means that you will differentiate yourself from your competition by being a great listener.

Have a Positive Attitude

Like any career, having the right attitude towards what you do and why is the difference between winning and losing. In sales, it's even more critical. Optimistic sales pros outperform pessimists by 57%.

Even if the pessimists have better selling skills.

People want to do business with people that are upbeat, positive and demonstrate that they're passionate about what they're doing. Successful salespeople come across as positive, and their customers usually feel optimistic about them as a result.

If you want to complain, there's a lot to complain about in sales:

• your manager is a micromanager
• the prices are too high
• they don't give you enough good leads

It's easy to complain, but it gets you nowhere and creates a mindset that makes it challenging, if not impossible, to succeed.

Successful sales pros put aside ALL negativity and excuses and make things happen. If they need or want more leads, they go out and find leads and prospects themselves.

NO ONE has ever gotten to the top of any sales organization by criticizing or complaining.

Ask the Right Questions.

Better questions about a buyer's goals and pain points lead to better sales success. Most salespeople jump to the "sales presentation" right upfront before determining the prospect's wants and needs.

As a result, the prospects feel neglected and disrespected, and the salesperson never understands the buyer's story and goals. If you don't ask the right questions, you will never be able to close a sale!

Most salespeople fail to determine the real buying intentions of their prospects, including their financial situation, when they want to purchase, or who the decision-maker is.

As a result, they spend way too much time and resources on things that don't matter and on prospects who were never a fit, to begin with.

Never Give Up.

Why are 80% of sales made by 20% of salespeople? Because the winners sell to the prospects that the losers gave up on.

Here are some great stats that reinforce this:

• 92% of sales pros give up before the 4th phone call, but 80% of prospects say "NO" four times before saying "YES."
• 50% of all sales happen after the 5th contact, but most reps give up after 2.
• 83% of prospects who request information don't buy for 3–12 months.
• 70% of salespeople stop at one email.
• 96% of salespeople quit before four attempts, but 60% of sales happen after the 5th.

It typically takes between 8–12 follow-up calls to make a sale, so if you're quitting before you hit those numbers, you're doing yourself and your sales career a huge disservice.

You can be very successful in sales simply by refusing to give up.

Prioritize Your Time.

It's incredible how much time people waste. The top 20% of Sales pros spend more than 6 hours of their day on sales-related activities. Compared to less than 3 hours of the day on sales-related tasks by the other 80% of salespeople.

Your TIME is all you have; it's your primary asset and will determine your success. Begin every day with a plan and a priority list. The best time to make your list is the night before, before wrapping up for the day.

Write down everything you must do the next day, starting with your fixed appointments and then moving on to the other sales activities you need to do to hit your numbers.

Everything else, all non-sales activities that come up must be put off!

Start a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little longer. Do the little things that the average salespeople are unwilling to do.

Ask for Referrals.

What's more important in the sales world than referrals? They're the most powerful form of advertising known to man. Most buyers depend on them to make good decisions. Yet, most salespeople rarely, if ever, ask for them!

• Did you know that 84% of buyers start with a referral? And 92% of customers trust them to make good choices.
• 90% of customers buying decisions rely on a friend's referral or recommendation.
• 83% of customers are happy to refer you to a friend or family member after a positive experience. But only 29% of customers do because salespeople refuse or are afraid to ask.
• People of ALL age groups trust their friend's recommendations more than any other source.

It takes a lot of work to make a sale. As a sales professional, you're always looking for ways to maximize your efforts with all the work and money involved. No matter how long you've been in sales, you know that getting a sale from a cold lead is tough.

It's always easier when a friend or client recommends you or your company to someone else. These are some of the easiest sales we make, and this is why customer referrals are so crucial to your success.

Ask for the Sale!

Closing should be the easiest part of selling; it's the natural culmination of a sales conversation. You've helped the buyer identify a problem and then proposed a solution.

Unfortunately, despite having good sales skills, too many salespeople are reluctant to ask for the sale.

63% of all sales interactions end with the salesperson NOT asking for the sale. Top Sales Professionals start closing softly at the beginning of the sales process and continue to close throughout the process.

Having done the sales process correctly means using a relaxed, no-pressure close. So many times, I have seen a salesperson who connects with the customer, listens and understands, qualifies the customer's needs, but never asks for the business, never asks them to write the check!

Here are the 3 major reasons salespeople are hesitant to ask for the sale.

• Fear of rejection or getting NO!
• Inexperience or poor sales skills
• Inability to overcome objections

All 3 of these reasons can be resolved by having a plan and practicing your plan. If you know their typical responses once you ask for the sale, be prepared, and ASK FOR THE SALE!

Have a Plan for your Sales Success.

Below-average achievers devote most of their time making sales calls and very little of their time planning.

Successful sales professionals set both short and long-term goals and continually monitor themselves to ensure those goals are met. They are extremely time conscious, realizing every minute is income potential.

Less successful salespeople fail to set goals, leading to time management problems. According to the research, only about 3 % of adults have written goals. And these are the most successful and highest-paid people in every field.

They are the movers and shakers, the creators and innovators, the top sales professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Every salesperson has a sales goal or quota that the company sets. But not every salesperson sets achievable daily or weekly goals for themselves.

If you want to close a certain number of deals per month, it will take measurable daily activity to get there: prospecting, calling, appointments, and follow-up.

If you don't get in the habit of setting goals and having a daily plan, you won't come anywhere near being a successful Top Sales Professional.

Conclusion

Whether you are an inexperienced salesperson just starting your career or an experienced sales professional, you have to be committed to the profession if you want to be successful.

Like most careers, there is no secret to sales success except hard work, determination, having a sense of urgency, a positive attitude, listening, having goals and a plan, and prioritizing your time correctly.

While sales can be one of the most challenging careers, it can also be the most rewarding if you are willing to focus on what it takes to succeed!