1: Sales Distinctions and Success Traits
The author warms up with a few anecdotes about salesmen he has encountered: the ones that are successful really stand out from the pack. And he reasons that this perception inverts the cause and effect: they don't stand out because they are successful, but they are successful because they stand out. It's something specific about their personality, and the seemingly inconsequential things they do that make them distinctive, that cause them to be remembered by their clients, and regarded by prospects as being different than the (many) other salesmen they have encountered. Being distinctive is a significant factor in being successful in sales.
Twelve Leaps to Distinction
Next, there is a list of random things, some of which have to do with being distinctive, others of which seem to be in the nature of general advice.
- Follow up promptly. It's a basic tactic and a common courtesy that everyone knows about, but few salesmen actually bother to do.
- Provide an extra service after the sale. Most salesmen vanish after the deal is closed, thinking there's nothing to be gained by giving the client any further attention - but giving your client an unexpected extra after the sale, not an incentive to buy but a small favor or thank-you, helps you get their next sale.
- Network Clients. A salesman meets many people, some of whom can be of help to one another. Connecting them to one another is a favor that will pay dividends.
- Get a manicure. The author tells a personal anecdote about being advised to get a manicure, which seemed uncomfortable and unmanly, but he feels confident that this minor touch conveys to clients that he takes care of the little details.
- Upgrade your wardrobe. As with the finer points of grooming, dressing to project a professional image, rather than for your own persona comfort, sets a positive tone with clients and boosts your self-esteem.
- Improve on e-mail communication by using video or audio messages as attached files. (EN: I'd be cautious of this one - media files are hard to do professionally and many users find them an inconvenience and a nuisance.)
- Mind your handwriting. A handwritten note is distinctive in the age of e-mail and text messages, and makes a positive impression, providing your handwriting is not sloppy.
- Get some coaching. Regardless of your level of skills, everyone can benefit from getting insight from an observer.
- Stay fit. Not only does this benefit your appearance, but it improves your level of performance to be in good shape and have energy by exercising regularly.
- Listen. Most salesmen simply talk too much and try to befuddle a client with a constant stream of words. Clients value salesmen who listen to them, and understanding their needs will enable you to confidently say a few words that are more effective than a canned pitch.
- Send noticeable mail. Most businesses use the cheapest grade of plain white envelope. The author has used colored envelopes and, but his estimation, pink gets the best response. (EN: Other sources have suggested that something less fanciful works, off-white or cream, and a better grade of stationery.)
- Establish a sales process. Too many salesmen simply "wing it" and have no game plan to guide them
The author makes an oblique reference to having a personal "brand" that is uniquely your own. It seems an afterthought, but it's advice I've seen elsewhere.
Success Traits
Another list - this one of the "five key traits" that successful people has in common. Some are naturally strong in one area or another, and tend to rely on the area in which they find it easiest to learn on what "works best" for them, but those who are highly successful foster all five:
- Discipline. Many people know what they ought to do, and there's no shortage of training and advice. But unless a person has the discipline to put plans into action and stick with them, they will never benefit from them. In many instances, some effort is required to do something until it becomes habitual, at which point you develop "unconscious competency," and are doing them without much thought or effort.
- Tenacity. This quality is slightly different: discipline is the willpower to do the right thing, whereas tenacity is the stamina to keep after it aggressively. A nice phrase: "timid salesmen have skinny kids."
- Implementation. The author's a bit vague here, but it seems to have to do with taking the initiative to do things, and overcoming obstacles rather than using them as excuses not to act.
- Focus. This is the quality of being able to be in the moment and thinking about what you are doing right now. Sales performance in most offices drops off at 11:15, when the salesmen are still making calls, but are thinking about lunch rather than the client.
- Desire. The last of the traits is simply having a genuine desire to sell. Sales is the easiest job for many people to get, and one of the hardest at which to succeed. The salesman who doesn't care about closing doesn't close.
The author stresses that if you don't have these traits, you can develop them, but it's not something that can be done overnight - it takes time.
One bit of advice is to rate yourself in each of these five areas as extraordinary, average, and mediocre, and work on them slowly and over time. Over the course of a year, you can make a dramatic difference by taking a series of small steps. But also be mindful that you can slip, so constant vigilance is necessary.
Three Groups of Salespeople
The three groups of salespeople correspond to the three ratings the author used for success traits: the top 3% of sales producers are extraordinary, the next 27% are average, and the bottom 70% are mediocre.
The vast majority of salesmen fall into the worst category. These are the guys who don't' work on their skills, and are generally one sale away from losing their job. Actually, they are often on the fence between quitting and getting fired, as no-one has much enthusiasm for their own constant failure. As a result, there's heavy turnover in this category. The author's advice is simply not to waste time or money on them. (EN: and that may be a separate problem - companies don't invest in their workers have bad workers, and hope to inherit better ones, hoping to get them from another firm that knows how to develop talent.)
The middle 27% are competent salespeople, who do a better-than-average job and make enough sales to for the company to have a bread-and-butter clientele. They're generally happy with a stable job, earning enough money for a few of life's little pleasures, and will give a moderate level of effort for a moderate level of success.
The top 3% of salesmen are "freaks of nature," highly motivated and highly productive salesmen. The author fires off a salvo of the qualities that make them outstanding:
- They are serious about their business and seek not merely to make sales calls, but to make sales
- They easily separate and focus on what is important - that which earns them a commission - and regard anything else as a waste of time
- They take an "ownership mentality" and act as if they were independent consultants rather than employees to a firm
- They are effective communicators and listen attentively to prospects so that they can determine exactly what they need to say
- They are also effective presenters who often set aside canned pitches, demonstrating how their product has value to the unique and specific needs of a prospect
- They seek to "work smart" rather than "work hard" and will consider changing their patterns to achieve more results with less time and effort
- They make choices according to the value of the outcome. The author uses the analogy of seeing the value of two options as a $10 bill and a $100 bill, and picking the $100 every time.
- They are passionate about their work an realize that getting prospects to be enthusiastic about a product is an essential part of getting the prospect to buy
(EN: He lays it on a bit thick, but essentially has a point - in any profession, there are many who are content to muddle through, doing a reasonably good job, but who aren't focused on exceptional performance. Especially since salesmen are paid on commission, and their performance has a direct correlation with their income, it seems curious that so few are focused on achievement.)