People always ask me, “What are the qualities that make for a good salesperson?” In today’s Sales 2.0 environment, we continue to redefine our standards of success. One attribute that will outlast any sales 2.0 movement is the salesperson’s ability to know themselves.
Any good salesperson who sets foot on a path of self-discovery and chooses sales as a profession is on the right track. The selling profession forces you to take a hard look at who you are: the good, bad and ugly. It challenges your perceptions, confidence, motivation and negative self-talk. A salesperson who lacks self-awareness is one who will not last long in the sales profession.
The TeleSmart 10 sales booster series is a program designed specifically for inside sales. It continues to be chosen as the flagship methodology for any global fast-growing inside sales organization. The content continues to evolve as it incorporates both the phone and on-line selling tactics and wraps it all under a Sales 2.0 umbrella.
In mastering these 10 skills, you will sell more effectively; but mastering your self-development will transform who you are. That’s why the TeleSmart 10 is primarily an “insight sales” program that invites the salesperson to take a journey of self-discovery. Each skill provides an opportunity to get up close and personal with your own sales self and helps you strive to do your best.
The TeleSmart 10 offers you honest insight to reflect and ask these questions:
- Time Management: How much time do you take to plan your activities, strategies and business? How much do you plan for? How can planning payoff when you need to be more selective about what you spend time on? How much time do you actually need before being considered a waste of time by others? How much do you deserve to have? Have you earned the right to more time; do you deserve more time? Why do you show up late? Why do you overextend yourself? How are you saying NO to time bombs that will only slow you down? Why do you spent time talking about things beyond your control and less time on areas that will give you immediate results? Why do you let someone else determine what is urgent or important for you? What are you putting off, and why is procrastinating on something so much easier than getting it done? What is getting in the way and holding you back from what you really want? Why will you keep trying when you can just start doing? What are you waiting for? Why are you working so hard but failing to work smart? How can you make more money with less effort?
- Introducing: What are your intentions? What is your vocal and written stamp? How do you show up? What first impression do you make on others? Do you engage and invite them in or do you scare them and intimidate them? Does your tone establish trust or do the emails you send create misunderstandings? Are you so wordy that you lose your listener because you are not organized about what you want to really say? Are you impeccable with your word or are you pretending? Why are you hiding behind big words and acronyms that lose your listener? Have you not taken the time to listen to yourself from the other’s perspective to determine if you would want to respond to you? How can you bring more of your authentic self to your introduction and less of your generic self? Are you making more noise in a crowded market or is there a bright light when a message from you lands in their inbox?
- Navigating: Where are you really going? Is your compass pointing in the right direction? Can your convincing manner gather information from gatekeepers whose sole purpose is to keep you out? What can you do to gain access while others have been shut out? Why should they let you in? Can you put an org chart puzzle together and get excited about contacting the various players? How does your trusting style work in your favor to gather unpublished information? Are you genuinely curious or do you plan on forcing your way in without being welcome? Are you the type of person people divulge pertinent information to without realizing what they just did?
- Questioning: How does your questioning style create comfort and trust? Do your questions sound relevant and insightful and not interrogative? Why do people really like talking to you? Is it because your questions make them think? How do you get the courage to just ask one more question and boldly move through your qualifying efforts? Does your curious mind lead you toward learning and absorbing more?
- Listening: What does your sales intuition say? Are you really listening or have you created a movie of assumption in your head? Are you too busy listening with “happy ears” to what you wish you could hear versus what is really said? Are you aware of the barriers that keep you from listening and trap you into reacting? What is keeping you from listening to yourself? How can you sit silently during parts of your day? What listening gift can you offer those close to you? What does it mean to focus on someone else’s agenda versus your own for once?
- Linking: What fears keep you from calling at the highest level within an organization? Why are you loyal to non-power players who only want to keep you away? How do you hold your weight when talking with a heavy decision-maker? What will it take for you to believe you belong? Does your image of a high level “C” contact keep you from learning who they really are? Where do you rank on the influence meter? How much power do you have and how much do you want to hold? How well can you manage power? Borrow it? Build it?
- Presenting: Do you really believe in your product/service and can you convey that in your presentation? How can you stand out when it’s show time? Do you have what it takes to make your presentation memorable and propel your sales cycle forward? How can you succinctly educate, motivate and influence others on your product or service?
- Handling Objections: What objections are you creating yourself? Once you receive objections, are you taking things too personally? Can you listen to what is behind the objection and spend less time reacting? Are your fears of being rejected helping you create most of the objections you receive? Do you believe you deserve more or will you sabotage it? What keeps you from bouncing back?
- Closing: What do you really want to ask for? How strong are you at getting people to commit? What should anyone buy now? Are you convincing? Why should they believe what you tell them? How well can you minimize risk for them? How can you turn the purchasing process into a good experience?
- Partner: What attributes do you bring to a healthy partnership? What is your level of commitment, compromise and communication? Are you worthy of partnering? Do you trust yourself enough to trust working with others? What is it about you that allows people to put you in the driver’s seat? How hard are you on yourself? How can you spend less time in judgment about others and more time creating partnerships?
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Sales 2.0 Conference- A Huge Success- Check out the recorded archives and listen to the TeleSmart and Phone Works panel discussion titled "Sales 2.0: A Report from the Front Lines."
Josiane is one of the contributors.
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