4 Keys for Being Great at Sales

For any business, the true mark of success lies in their sales. The amount of sales they are able to make per year can mean the difference between bankruptcy and rapid and sustainable growth. A company’s sales are largely influenced by the salespeople they have, who are directly influenced by the sales leadership. Moreover, salespeople are also responsible for studying, crafting, and directing sales strategies - and can have great influence on the company's centricity on the customer. A company led by employees at all levels who co-create with the client, and give outstanding solutions, is sustainable and strong. In our world's best organizations all employees become salespeople because of their company and appreciation for customers who give them the ultimate form of respect - their trust.

Keep in mind that sales are not only made by the sales team—the sales strategy makes a direct impact on the number of sales a business experiences. It takes between six and nine months—or more—for businesses to establish practices for selling that show real results. Continuous improvement and testing is critical. Each company has their own method or technique that works to their benefit. The following are the four best practices for selling that businesses have used to increase their sales. Surprisingly, none of them have to do with selling—it is all centered on solutions and servicing the customer and becoming centered on their needs. To be the best sales leader - become customer-centric, co-create effective solutions for your customer and be certain to follow-up with great care and understanding of yourself and your customers. Here are the 4 keys to being great at sales.

1.  Prepare for All Types of Circumstances and Go the Extra Mile

Great salespeople care deeply about their customers and will do what it takes to ensure their success and happiness - regardless if the "salesperson" is CEO, VP of Marketing, or Head of Business Development. Salespeople should be prepared for any question the customer might throw at them. An expert salesperson or any top executive is a conversationalist and trusted advisor who is so well-versed about the product that they can answer almost any question the client may have about it. Moreover, they go above and beyond their duty in trying to ensure that the customers are comfortable and happy with the products they’re getting from them.

In 2007, an ice storm turned the Eastern Seaboard’s airports into igloos during Valentine’s Day. JetBlue was left with no choice but to cancel around 1,000 flights, leading to hundreds of stranded customers venting their rage online. Rather than blaming Mother Nature, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman apologized publicly for the inconvenience and introduced a customer’s bill of rights, along with a monetary compensation. That year, JetBlue won first place in J.D. Power North America Airline Satisfaction Study for low-cost air carriers.

2. Work On Self-Motivation and Passion for Your Clients' Success

A self-motivated person is more invested in the company, passionate about the product/service and is more productive and driven than your average employee.

The Navy Seals is an excellent example of self-motivation on steroids. They are driven by an internal desire to succeed and “never quit.” Navy Seal Tom Shea, in his book, Unbreakable: A Navy Seal’s Way of Life talks about going beyond quitting and facing your internal fears. He explains how important it is to taste, feel, and experience what failure may be like as a motivator. He asks the question, “What would your life be like if you never quit? You would be unbreakable.” His final lesson is: “Never quit on yourself.”

3. Deal with Decision-Makers and Co-Create With Them

When trying to make a sale, a salesperson will always connect with the decision-makers and do their best to co-create a way to work with them. The farther away the salesperson is from the decision maker, the more time it will take to co-create an effective solution. Co-creation gives you and the decision maker the ability to discover the right issues and challenges and discover a solution that truly helps your client organization. Even if they deal with a secondary person, they have enough ability to co-create an effective solution who convinces the decision-maker as well. If the secondary person is not able to make an impact on the decision maker, internal politics are usually at play - and the company has a much bigger problem of ineffective communication.

According to a salesperson in the financial sector, the biggest challenge, however, is managing expectations, while still educating newcomers about the steps that they will need to take in the future. While there is sense of haste to get the maximum gains, you cannot promise large returns if the person on the other side is not ready to take risk. The thing about risk is… well, it’s risky. So, how does one counter that? You sell a solution, co-created by you and the client, not a service.

4. Always Follow-Up

A good sales team will always run a follow-up procedure to ensure that their customers are happy with the product or service. Following up can often lead to more sales when the customer is satisfied. Moreover, it’s not always the after-care that needs follow-up. Sometimes, an initial call made by the customer can also get cut off or lost midway. Salespeople who have followed up on those missed calls have also ended up making more sales. And, they can discover challenges or issues that can make the product/service even better for them.

In business, a PR crisis is always a bad review, YouTube video, or ice storm away. The key is to be quick-to-respond. Not too long ago, Apple withdrew its iOS 8.0.1. The company did it within an hour of its release. While the problem was of connectivity and performance issues, which even caused loss of service, Apple’s response was anything but slow and thick. Apple apologized, offered its users a convenient workaround, and set to work on the iOS 8.0.2. As a result, customers weren’t given the time to post those bad reviews and YouTube videos we just mentioned, and the company went on to increase its sales and gain the trust of their customers.

Ending Note

Buying behavior has changed forever. Customers are educating themselves via the Internet and social media – and your sales process needs to change as well. The four best sales leadership practices above are practiced by various different companies, ranging from small businesses to global businesses. Moreover, used in conjunction with a strong marketing strategy, these are some of the most successful sales strategies.

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Louis Carter, MA is author of over 10 books on best practices in leadership and management including Change Champion's Field Guide and Best Practices in Talent Management. He is one of the top advisors to C-level executives - helping them and their organizations achieve measurable results. Carter is the recipient of ELearning! Magazine's Trailblazer Award, HR Tech Conference's Top Products Award, and Leadership Excellence Magazine's Best in Leadership Development for his work as Chairman and CEO of Best Practice Institute. He received his MA in Social/Organizational Psychology from Columbia University