Sales Excellence – How to be successful in sales
During my sales training sessions and coaching, I hear from the participants that they would like to learn about the latest sales trends and techniques. Unfortunately, at that moment I also see that the people in front of me do not know much about sales and most likely are not very successful. That is why they search for help in the latest trends and techniques, which “will sell“ instead of them and they will reach the sales goals set. Sadly, it does not work like that in sales.
For the seller, in the first place of the seller´s success, there have always been, and are, competencies and attitude of the seller. On the other hand, it is necessary to follow the changing environment around and react to emerging requirements around.
Surely, sales adapt partly to the time, new needs, evolving civilization and extremely fast development of modern technologies. But it is necessary to realize, that business has a long history. After all, Babylonian empire is considered to be the cradle of the first advance in business and formalized principles of business in the commercial code are 4000 years old.
Since then many things have changed, but the basic principles of business remain the same.
I have recently started learning to play golf. Those who have some experience with golf, know, that for a player to be allowed to step on the golf course and start playing, the so-called Green card is necessary, which allows you to enter the golf course; like a driving license, it proves at least basic knowledge of golf rules, ethics and the game itself, of course. I was really lucky that Roman, a charismatic and very experienced coach was recommended to me. This coach, who is more than 60 years old, has been playing golf since he was 6, many years in competitions, and with quite outstanding results. Once, after hours of torture on the training course and tee, when I was not doing well again, I said to Roman: “Never in my life can I learn this.“ Immediately, a prompt answer came from the coach. “No, you can´t! Golf can´t be learnt. And if a golf player tells you he/she can play it, he/she doesn´t know anything about it.“
As well as in golf, the above applies to sales. Sales cannot be learnt either. We can be an excellent businessman, but we can never say we can do sales. We should always be open to feedback and try to reach the next goal.
Without a solid knowledge base, nothing is possible. To be competent pays out. Often not immediately, as we wish, or require, but in a long-term period. Each of us rather conjoins with successful people, not the unsuccessful. Competence means success. A person radiates competence, people detect it and the person gets the credit. That leads to higher lever of self-confidence, and then, as the next consequence, to higher lever of competency.
1. The essence of every succesful person is self-discipline. Whether either personal or professional success is concerned, it all starts with ability to control yourself resulting from discipline. Our thoughts. Our emotions. Our behaviour. And our habits. Everything must be under control. If you want to reach the elevated goals you have set, the understanding of how to discipline yourself is the key factor leading to success.
Another name for self-motivation is optimism, which is necessary, if we want to accomplish something great in this world. It is the willingness to do something valuable. One of the best reasons why we should always be motivated, is that we do not have to rely on the others. Then, we can reach our goals solely based on our strengths and other abilities.
The commitment to further education is important. It is not said for nothing, that those who do not grow, stagnate. And that applies not only to business companies, but to people, above all. A constant self development gets them to the top and helps to keep them there as long as possible. Imagine you go to a surgeon, who learnt to operate 30 years ago and since then has had no further education and has not used new scientific knowledge; a lawyer, who learnt about law 20 years ago and does not know new laws, or you go to an exotic holiday by a new, biggest aircraft in the world, Airbus A380, but the pilot is only able to fly the older Airbus A310. Realizing the need of further education is the key point of success in any profession.
If you are interested in developing yourself more in the sales or sales management area, we will be glad to welcome you at some of our training sessions focused on sales, sales management or sales excellence. If interested, contact us on info@maxwell.cz