Sales Leaders: Are Your Sales Reps Curious Enough To Smash Their Sales Targets?

Mediocre, average, unexceptional, ordinary, complacent - these aren’t qualities that usually come to mind when we consider successful salespeople.

What is one key trait to expect of salespeople who make an impact, achieve success and smash their sales targets?

Being insanely curious is a required character trait if you wish to master business disruptions. All sales professionals put learning on overdrive.

A naturally curious salesperson can put themselves in the customer’s shoes, get to the bottom of their problem, and present a solution to meet their needs. 

Curiosity is the most powerful thing you own as a sales professional

Curiosity is essential because it can drive your sales reps ability to make new connections. The more engaged they become with prospects and your clients the more inclined they are to ask questions; the more they learn and uncover the more they can grow the relationship enabling them to hit their sales targets.

An insanely curious sales rep is always learning something new, allowing them to build upon their expertise. Prospects and your clients want to do business with salespeople who are true experts. Becoming extremely curious allows your salespeople to develop creative solutions to your prospects and clients problems.

INSANELY CURIOUS

Curiosity can be developed with the right mindset.

Words which come to mind with curious salespeople: intense desire to know something, eagerness, questioning, interested, detectives, thirst for knowledge and inquisitive.

Insanely curious salespeople are constantly thirsty for success!

CURIOUS SALES REPS SMASH THEIR SALES TARGETS

Being curious means always wondering "why?" What is behind your sales teams why?

How many curious salespeople are on your team?

Curious salespeople think on a different plain. They identify and ask questions that solicit deeper results.

Becoming curious drives them down different roads, creating more opportunities for them to see things with fresh perspectives.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE KNOW THEIR VALUE

The average sales rep may think they know how to sell value, but it means nothing unless the value is built up from the customer’s perspective.

Insanely curious salespeople know what drives their clients’ decisions and how to create awareness of the value they bring. This is accomplished by developing a learning mindset to help your customers get what they need, an outstanding experience.

I truly believe it’s more effective to act as if no one knows you or recognizes the value you bring as this makes you have to prove it every day.

Curious salespeople go face to face with your customers and ask...

• "What value do my services, products or solutions create for you?" 
• "What does value-add look like to you?"

Sustaining value in the minds of your customers requires persistence and extreme focus. This is what curious salespeople are all about... an obsession with understanding value.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Average sales reps are always making excuses for everything bad that happens to them. It’s the economy, the leads are weak, the competition has better products, buyers are idiots, we’re too expensive, our service is horrible; stop the excuses!

Curious salespeople see all of this as learning opportunities. They learn to do something different and practice different ways of progressing towards achieving sales success. They view roadblocks as learning opportunities and become obsessed with the identifying as many ways as possible to improve.

Curious salespeople have a strong appetite for knowledge and eat information daily for breakfast.

• 82% of extremely successful salespeople had intense levels of curiosity. Top salespeople are naturally more curious than their lesser-performing peers.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THEIR CLIENTS

The top sales professionals know their clients and potential clients deserve more than just a phone call with a rehearsed sales pitch. They recognize the importance of exploring their beliefs, their challenges, what drives them and most importantly, what they want to accomplish.

Innately curious salespeople are ready to ask the right questions, provide the right insight and respond with answers.

How curious are your sales reps in making sure your clients feel special before, during and after doing business with them?

• Are they making your clients feel important?
• Do your clients feel that your sales reps care about them?
• Do your clients feel like they can trust your sales reps?

Curious salespeople focus on developing conversations, not sales campaigns. It is about opening up human to human conversation. It is not about your sales reps it is about helping your clients.

Attention to all sales leaders...

When was the last time one of your sales reps had a conversation with one your clients that didn't involve trying to sell them something?

Imagine the outcomes your sales reps would have by increasing their level of curiosity when they are with, doing work for and thinking about your clients.

What would it look like as they became more curious on behalf of your clients? What could they help your clients do better?

With curious intent, spend some time with your clients and ask them how your sales reps have been enhancing their experience with your company?

You may want to check out this episode of Selling From The Heart

Picture your sales reps entrenching themselves in your clients world not their sales world.

STOP AND THINK FOR A MOMENT

The one thing separating successful sales teams and others who are merely surviving or should I say, being complacent; is their desire to learn as curiosity ignites it. Successful sales people never stop learning. In turn, they translate their new understandings into innovative ideas for their customers. 

Help your sales team break out of complacent, default modes of thinking. Recycling old ideas with traditional sales approaches won’t help your sales team smash their targets or satisfy your clients.

Create a sales culture based upon curiosity. In the words of the great Walt Disney...

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"

Lead your sales team down new paths to help them smash their sales targets.

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!

In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire Sales Teams to grow new business by helping them tell their story and communicate it out by integrating the use of social media. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast at Selling from the Heart.