7 Habits Of Highly Effective Salespeople

Of late, I have been doing research on what separates high sales performers from the 'average' ones. Following are my observations, having interacted with over 450 salespeople in the last two months -

1) Focusing on 'Customer Facing' time

The only time a salesperson is productive is when he/she is in front of the customer - 'eye to eye' & 'belly to belly'. Everything else is just noise. It's easy to 'appear' busy for a salesperson - just log into the CRM and spend hours entering data, talk to the client servicing team etc. You'll be shocked to know that on an average a salesperson spends just 40 minutes out of 9 hours everyday meeting customers (obviously doesn't apply for inside sales teams). So essentially you are just working for 40 minutes everyday. Yes, you need to send reports to management everyday but a high performing sales individual makes sure that this doesn't compromise his customer facing time. What 'air time' is to pilots, 'customer facing time' is to salespeople. The more you meet your customers, the more you'll close. Simple.

2) Not playing the blame game

It's easy to play the blame game in sales - if you aren't closing, you can always blame marketing saying the leads aren't good or the prospects aren't serious. It's like Virat saying 'We lost because the pitch wasn't good'. Fairly genuine excuse, but doesn't mean that you cannot win! And guess what, the leads will never be good! I haven't come across any company till now where sales said 'we love the leads'. Also, if all leads were 'ultra high' quality & customers wanted the product/service immediately, we wouldn't need a sales team at all! Bots would be enough. The reason for your existence is to take the customer through the buying process. You have to take ownership of whatever leads you have & whichever customer you are with. High performers take the ownership & hence are game changers!

3) Asking for the close

A lot of salespeople shy away from asking for the sale. They think 'I have done my job of explaining the product/service - now if the customer wants it, they will buy it'. Look, customers are confused all the time. It's not easy for them to take a buying decision. It's your duty to help your customers take the leap of faith & do business with you. Lot of sales professionals think it's too bold a move to ask for the close or it's going to come off as a 'pressurising' tactic. Well, not really. If you want your prospect to be transparent, you be transparent first! Having said that, it's not so much about what you say, it's all about 'how you say it'.

Remember, 'Telling is not selling'...just because you told them, doesn't mean they will buy. High performers realise this and are able to map the prospect's responses to the sales process. They have developed the art of 'knowing' when to go for the close & 'how' to do it. The next time you are with a prospect, be conscious of asking for the sale!

4) Adding value to clients

There's a lot of literature on the web around this. But this point still needs to be emphasised. Gone are the days of relationship building by being nice to the prospect. That ain't enough to close the sale. Relationship building still works, albeit differently. When you position yourself as the expert in front of the client, when you add immense value, when you give client insights which they themselves have missed - that's the time you build a solid relationship with them. Sales is then just a by product of this 'expert' positioning. If you want to become a high performer, knowing your product in and out is not enough. You need to master PMT - product, market & trends.

High performers are constantly working on their craft. They take time out to understand the client's business. They research on how they can create a win win situation. They are more of a consultant to the client. While low performers are more into 'transactional selling', high performers turn the game into 'value selling'

5) Maintaining your emotional balance

Look, sales is a lot of stress. You are constantly dealing with humans - which means you are constantly dealing with emotions. You'll deal with a lot of angry clients who'll shout at you for no mistake of yours. You'll hear a lot of 'NO's' everyday. All this can take a toll on your emotional balance. There's a bloodbath at the marketplace. So you better have your 'mechanisms' to cope up with the bad times!

High performers work on their stamina (physical strength is critical in sales). They work on their emotions (yoga helps). They takes things objectively and don't let the noise outside disturb their inner self. If you don't do all of this, you'll run out of steam midway. Remember, sales is not a sprint, it's a marathon. So prepare yourself for one!

6) Giving insights to the management

There's a golden rule in sales - Either bring back the cheque or the reason why the customer didn't buy. Most sales guys don't bring back insights on why customers are not buying. It's a goldmine of information which is lost in translation. Management can play the guessing game or hire external consults to figure out the reason for 'low sales' but they are just one step away from decoding the answer - they just need to call for a meeting with their sales team and 'not talk about targets' - they just need to hear what customers are saying! Having said that, lot of salespeople are too busy mindlessly chasing targets that they are not receptive to signals which customers are always throwing!

If you want to grow in your career, this could be a game changer. Once you start doing this, your management will take you more seriously. There's a good chance your management might not pay attention or implement your findings, but you'll surely stand out in their eyes.

7) Investing in yourself

By far, the most important factor which differentiates the winners and the also rans. If you've been in sales for long, there's a natural tendency to believe that you pretty much know how things work. But what got you here, won't take you there. And if you don't invest in yourself, you'll soon be relegated to the past. My business partner, Joseph Dass, has over 25 years of experience in sales but he starts his day by reading on sales for about 40 minutes everyday! In his own words, he likes to be on 'top of the game'.

'Time' is at an all time premium if you are in sales, but you have to hustle your way to find time to read books on sales, sign up for a training course, attend seminars, interact with sales folks from other industries etc. The road to learning is never ending. As they say - 'If you want to earn more, learn more'.