It does not matter what industry your in. Without Effective Sales Skills your business will not succeed. Everyone has a million dollar idea. The ones that come to fruition are the ones backed by passionate individuals who have the ability to sell the ideas to others.
Now “sales skills” get a bad wrap, a lot of individuals attribute the classic “used car salesmen” characteristic when they think of a salesmen. This mentality believes the person doing the selling, does so in a less then truthful manner. Like turning the odometer back a couple thousand miles. However, that is simply not the case with todays industries. Many CEOs dedicate their businesses’ success to sales skills. Without effective sales skills achieving success in any field would be nearly impossible.
Just below are some important benefits of being an effective salesmen.
Having Determination & Perseverance
One word you will never get away from is “no”. Salesmen hear this word an indefinite amount of times. However, look at “no” as an opportunity, an obstacle to overcome. Just like how marketers split test copy and images. This word is feedback from a client that you can use to split test your sales speech. Take the time to sit back, recalibrate and devise a different plan of attack. In some cases, there wont be anything you can do to change the individuals mind. But creating a mentality dedicated to succeed and persevere is vital for becoming successful. Empires are not built overnight they take time and dedication.
Negotiation
Being successful in your career means being a tough negotiator. Whether your negotiating with customers, coworkers, vendors, investors, etc. having strong negotiation skills is essentials. An effective salesmen listens to the problem, evaluates the players, identifies key variables, overcomes objections, and reaches an agreement without mass conflict. Good negotiators operate short term while thinking long term.
Developing Self Discipline
When you live on a commission based life style, developing self discipline is essential if you want to be successful. There are many positions at big corporations that are based off hourly rates or salary. In these instances employees lose their drive to go above and beyond because no matter how hard they work, they get x amount of dollars per hour. On the other hand in a commission based setting, you earn what you work for. Sales is a great place to make the mental connection between performance and reward.
The Art of Closing
The act of closing an agreement is half art and half science. Many individuals struggle with asking for what they want. Not only getting people to reach an agreement but to act on it as well is an invaluable business skill. This skill transcends through all professions, strengthening it will make you a better entrepreneur and leader.
Diversifying Your People Skills
If there is one thing you can rarely change, it’s the customers. Working in sales forces you to communicate with individuals from all walks of life. This not only gives you a unique perspective; but in addition it strengthens your communication skills. You will be able to approach anyone and open a dialogue. Opening communication with any individual is a crucial characteristic of a good salesmen. People buy/invest in someone they trust and like. If you can establish that with any individual your ROI will be exponential. Take the time to learn how to communicate with any customer, it will pay massive dividends in your business ventures.
Originality
Being unique and creative are what keep customers interested and coming back. After selling the same line of products for a long period of time, a salesmen can grow robotic. Meaning they have the same sales speech on rinse & repeat. Customers do not respond well to robotic-sounding speeches. Instead, salesmen with effective sales skills creates original content that keeps the customers engaged. Constantly, changing up the pitch keeps the seller and customers fresh. Don’t fall into a sales rut, be creative, be unique, be original.
Putting It All Together
Effective Sales Skills are vitally important if you wish to become a successful entrepreneur. The size of a company is irrelevant, every business owner is involved in sales and entrepreneur who lacks the basic skill set faces some major challenges. Sales skills are used to get investments, partnerships, clients, vendors, employees and so much more. Every integral part requires sales. This is exceptionally true in the early stages of starting a business.
Sales sound overwhelming? It can be at times, but as you spend more time practicing effective sales skills, the more successful salesmen you will become. The skills you acquire along the way will be invaluable tools that you can implement in all stages of life.