Anyone can start a career as a sales representative, but whether or not they will survive will depend on how good they are in the art of selling. Getting into a sales job may be easy, but staying in the job is an entirely different ball game. It takes several years of experience to get it right and journey your way to becoming a great salesperson. If you are aiming for a successful career in sales, here are some of the key characteristics of a great salesperson that you need to acquire.
Confidence: Before you sell the product or service, you need to be able to sell yourself. The customer will look at you first before they look at the product. And as we know, first impression is often the last impression. To build confidence, you need to have pride in what you are doing and believe that it's a value-add to someone. You need to have detailed information about the product you are selling and how it can benefit the customer.
Affable: A great salesperson comes across as a sociable individual and it’s a pleasure to talk to them. By being affable, it becomes easier to strike an instant rapport with the customer. Being affable also helps build trust and confidence among customers, which increases the probability of a win.
Empathy: A great salesperson is one who can take time to think about the needs of the customer. By understanding the customer's perspective, it becomes easier to share with them the specific details about the product that might interest them.
Resilience: The thing about a great salesperson is that they don't let rejections dent their spirit of selling. Some level of disappointment is natural, but a great salesperson has the ability to quickly rise above the negativities and start afresh.
Discipline: To become a top salesman, you will have to be disciplined in your approach. For example, you have to meticulously follow your leads and ensure that all calls and communications are done without delay. You also need to be thorough when communicating work details with other members in the sales team.
Flexibility: Most sales jobs involve meeting hundreds of individuals, each with their own varying personalities and specific tastes and preferences. A great salesperson is flexible in their approach and can make adjustments quickly to suit customer's requirements. They can also adapt quickly to new sales strategies, new products, selling in a new geography, etc.
Ambitious: A great salesperson continues to strive for achieving newer milestones. They may have won the company's salesperson of the year award, but things like these do not make them complacent. They continue to work hard to expand their network and achieve even bigger sales targets. In a way, a great salesperson has an insatiable appetite for achieving new goals and objectives.
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