Selling Yourself

It’s time to forget how to get rich quick. You know that to get ahead in life, you need to be in the business of selling. If this statement makes you cringe, it is probably because the word “sales” evokes images of annoying telemarketers and pushy car dealers. Relax, though, as this article is about a product so wonderful and special you should have no qualms in selling it. The product? You.

Despite the necessity of being able to sell yourself to others, for many people like myself it does not come naturally. Introversion, shyness, and lack of self-worth are just a few of the obstacles that can potentially get in the way. To overcome such obstacles, I suggest focusing on the following:

Be Sold on Yourself

This is the first, and perhaps most important, aspect to successfully selling yourself to others.

Unless it comes naturally, this is probably also the hardest. Being sold on yourself comes down to this: you must be aware of your own self-worth. This means you believe in yourself, have faith in yourself, and have confidence in yourself. If you struggle with your sense of self-worth, here are just three ideas that may help:

• Live in such a way that you would want to be friends with yourself
  Find some time to reflect on what you like about yourself. If this seems hard, start with the smallest of attributes.
  
• Don’t do anything that will give you cause to feel ashamed later.
  
• Have a Saleable Package
  Are you looking after your appearance to the best of your ability? Are your clothes appropriate for the image you wish to project?
  
• Be Positive and Enthusiastic
  Positivity and enthusiasm can both be developed, but once again it takes work. Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Look for the best in people
   
2. Associate with positive people


3. Care deeply about something


4. See life as an adventure


5. Smile
   
6. Be Real and Authentic
   

Rather than being about who you appear to be, selling yourself is about letting others know who you are as a person. Always tell the truth, it will earn you both trust and respect which, in turn, will help you build a great reputation. Not only that, it will make you feel good about yourself.

Perseverance in Sales

THIS IS A QUESTION I GET ALL THE time: Are good salespeople born, or are they made? It's true; some people may have more natural talent than others. But no matter how much talent you were born with, the key to success is making the most of the abilities you have. I believe that anyone can be a successful salesperson, especially if he or she embodies these attributes:

Effort: In the real world there is only one secret to success. There is only one road--one long road--to follow to accomplish our goals. There are no shortcuts. Success comes from hard work. It comes from the extra effort we put in, from the work ethic we foster, and from the values to which we are committed. Only effort, sustained over time, will build the foundation to support success.

Patience and perseverance: In our quest for instant gratification, we often forget about patience and perseverance, two of the most useful sales tools ever. You can't plant a seed and expect a ripened crop the next day; you must give the plant a chance to take root and grow - it takes care and nurturing. Sales are the same way. You must plant seeds every single day, be patient when things do not proceed as quickly as you'd like them to, and be persistent in your efforts to keep that sale alive and flourishing.

Cultivated solutions: Effort, patience and perseverance will not survive unless you believe 100 percent that your product or service has value and benefit for your customers. So talk to potential consumers, and find out what they like or don't like about your product or service. Ask them what they want it to do for them Talk to manufacturers and distributors of similar product lines. Use your research to get new ideas and build on what you already have to often Test out your ideas. Find out what works and what doesn't.

Using your natural-born talents puts you way ahead of the game. But when you also have the attributes mentioned above--effort, patience and perseverance, and cultivated solutions--you have what it takes to make yourself a success as an entrepreneur, a salesperson and a human being.

Finding the Energy in Sales

If you look at the common traits of successful salespeople, the most vital one is energy--the ability to go the extra mile and still have energy in reserve. Sure, some people succeed without tremendous amounts of energy, but countless others achieve sales success because of it. Energy is what gives you the stamina to not give up on a goal you've come so close to reaching.
Being at your best all the time requires constant energy. The following four factors will help you increase your energy level for peak performance and sales success.

1. Mental focus: Focusing on the moment with a clear mind is crucial. Right before you take action, visualize your activities--meetings, presentations and any event where you need to perform at your best. Too often, we think about all the things we have to do instead of focusing on the moment. Another way to focus is to take a deep breath in through your nose and hold for two or three seconds, then breathe out slowly through your mouth. This is the single most powerful way to calm your mind, not to mention increase the oxygen in your blood and boost your energy level.

2. No limits: Think back to a time when you were exhausted but needed to continue. You probably got a second wind and finished the job. But here's what happens most of the time: Energy begets energy, just like success breeds success. It adds fuel to the fire for the next time you need to sprint that extra mile. When you stretch and struggle, you grow. When you push yourself, you build a greater capacity for doing more work the next time.

3. Your attitude toward change: When changes occur, you have a choice about how to react. The true strength of entrepreneurs and great salespeople is the ability to adapt to a changing environment--whether it's a tough economy, the changing needs of buyers or plain old adversity. Life is like a grindstone: It either wears you down or polishes you up. It's all in how you look at a changing situation.

So ask yourself these questions about what's impacting your sales energy: How am I moving, thinking, challenging myself and dealing with change? Mastering these four factors will give you extra energy for stronger efforts and higher income.
Power to the (Sales) People

Hiring Right

Here's a vital fact: Using behavioral interviewing can increase by nearly 60% your chances of hiring the right employee. In fact, extensive research supports behavioral interviewing (i.e. using past performance as a reliable indicator of future performance) as the most effective interviewing technique available to evaluate suitable applicants. In a nutshell:
Behavior-based interviewing is an approach that looks at past behavior as the best predictor of future performance. And it makes common sense!

"Tell me a time when....."

For example, rather than asking, "What would you do if ..." one should ask, 'Tell me about a time when you.....You want to find out how people ACTUALLY behave rather than their promise of how they will behave.

Remember: Just because people can give good answers and sound impressive -- it doesn't mean they can DO what they SAY. Let's take a very simple example. You're interviewing Mary for the position of company receptionist. The interview starts as normal ...and you are using the same old, traditional questions.

What is your experience, Mary?

Why do you want to work here?

What do you know about our company?

Mary, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Good Questions....and bad Questions

These questions aren't bad in themselves. They will definitely help you to find out more about Mary. But they are severely limited, as they can lead to very standard and well-rehearsed responses from your interviewee. So even if Mary answers well - what does it really mean? Is she really good?

Or.... is she just good at answering the same old questions that EVERY interviewer asks? You see, at the end of all these questions, you still have very little REAL information about how Mary would behave in real-life situations. But there is another approach....

Behavioral interviewing

It is behavioral-based interviewing. Instead of the same old traditional questions, well-crafted behavioral-based questions can give you a much more accurate 'printout' of a candidate's true character and ability.

Remember again, behavioral-based interviewing is highly effective because it examines the past behavior of a job candidate, which is considered the most accurate indicator of future behavior.
Here's how it works: Let's say that you want to find out more about, say Mary's skills of diplomacy. How would she deal with people? In the past, you might have asked, 'Would you say you are very diplomatic with people?

“Yes, I am”. Full stop.

Look, you have asked her a close-ended question leading to a similar response. However, a behavioral-based question might be:

“Mary, have you ever felt irritated or frustrated while dealing with a customer? How did you respond when customers became demanding beyond an acceptable level?”

Do you see the difference?

The 'Behavior-based question' questions how she behaved in the past in very specific situations relating to diplomacy.

It allows the candidate to give you a fuller answer - and it gives you a more accurate and truer picture of the candidate. You see how the candidate reacted in the past and that is always the best predictor of future performance.

You should always define the behavioral competencies you are looking for in the right employee to fill your position. This way you will be more focused when recruiting. Once you know the behavioral competencies you want, you can then structure your interview questions to learn more about the interviewee.......and watch how your success rate in picking the right person will improve....and improve.

Do you smell it?” – Identifying Opportunities in any Sale Interaction

You spoke until the veins on your neck stood out. You were a killer and felt certain of securing the sale.

But then nothing.

You ask yourself: “What happened? I didn’t do anything differently from the last customer, but she seemed turned off from the beginning. Why wasn’t she interested?”

Sound familiar? This is a common complaint among sales people. In the midst of all the “can’t miss” sales systems, something is missing. In spite of doing everything “right,” the connection isn’t made, and the sale is lost. Why?

The answer is often tied to the incredible differences that exist between potential clients in their individual Interaction Styles, or the way in which each person interacts with others. An ability to pick up on and address these subtle clues in clients can mean the difference between a connection and a turnoff.

But what if you could begin to identify the style preference of a client? What if you could then (temporarily) tune into that preference and thus begin to solidify the connection with your client? What would it do to your sales if you could understand and match up your own style with that of your client?

You can—beginning now by:

Recognizing clue words during a conversation with a prospect.

Ask the right questions to find out a prospect's specific business needs.

Easily identify sales opportunities by listening for clue words, business needs, etc

Asking open-ended questions is a great way to learn information from prospects.

One of the best questions to ask is, "What do you need to do?"

Get practicing and in time you’ll get to closing a lot more as well.

The Give and Take of Feedback

Providing feedback to staff is always tough, but if it's "constructive," you not only get the message across, but also build a more cohesive and capable team as a result. Sometimes we feel uncomfortable when we have to pull employees up - but this need not be the case if we do it in the right manner.

Constructive feedback is the only way to learn and develop -both personally and professionally – but what is constructive feedback?
First, I'll tell you what it's not. Constructive feedback is not criticism, it is a not personal but a targeted response to an individual's action or behavior and it is not "closed" but rather invites the individual receiving the feedback to shed light, share their perspective, or provide their response.

Constructive feedback does not blame, but presents a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Why constructive feedback works...
Principles of feedback

1. Choose correct timing for feedback
Praise is most effective when given as soon as possible after the behavior has occurred. Immediate feedback will help to reinforce a correct behavior and make it more likely to happen again.

2. Ask for self assessment
Beginning by asking the person for self-assessment involves them in the feedback process.It helps to promote an open atmosphere and dialogue between the person doing the coaching and the person being coached.

3. Focus on specifics
When you focus on a specific correct or incorrect behavior, you remove the feedback from the sphere of personality differences and the other person will be more willing and able to change.

4. Limit feedback to a few important points
Good coaches and communicators identify one or two critical areas and help the person address them one at a time. It is too hard to examine and try to change many aspects of behavior at one time.

5. Provide more praise than corrective feedback
Positive reinforcement is one of the strongest factors in bringing about change. Unfortunately a lot of people always focus on the negative. When you give corrective feedback, remember to point out corrective behaviors first and always end the conversation on a positive.

6. Give praise for expected performance
People deserve to be praised for doing their job to the expected level. Too many people take the expected level for granted however. Praise is a strong motivator, and enough praise may be what it takes to turn an average employee into an exceptional one.

7. Develop Action Plans
Work together to identify the desired performance or result and how it can be achieved. Decide when the steps will be accomplished.

Sales Professionalism – The Forgotten Element

The irony is this: the challenge with too many salespeople is that they decide at first to 'try' selling for awhile. They don't commit 100% to it as a career because they are afraid of being wholly responsible for the level of income they achieve.

I must tell you, though, that the highest paid professional salespeople I know have burned their bridges to other sources of income and made that total commitment to selling as a career. They must succeed! They are not willing to look back! They look only to the future and the exciting opportunities each day in sales brings them.

Selling is one of the few careers available to people today in which every contact made can teach us something new. Do you know how many jobs there are out there in which things are done exactly the same each and every day? How boring! Sure, there's the security of a certain income you get from those jobs, but that income is limited -- set by someone other than yourself.

Selling is one of the few careers that allows you to determine exactly how much you will earn And one of the major benefits is that through proper training, you can learn exactly what you must do to earn that level. It's not a guessing game! There's a system, which, when properly applied, will bring you exactly the results you desire.

It's unfortunate, but most of today's consumers have a poor image of a salesperson. I have spent the better part of my life trying to dispel the stereotype of a salesperson. Once your prospects meet you and realize the high level of professionalism you are dedicated to giving, they will forget that you are a "salesperson" and begin to see you as a trusted friend -- someone who is there to provide a worthwhile service when they need it most.

Never forget this: To earn a higher income, find a way to give greater service. Learn how to make each and every client feel they are the most important person in the world to you. That can be accomplished by making a commitment today to begin taking advantage of the training available through your company, the various seminars, audio programs, video training tapes, magazines and newsletters at your disposal.

It's only through a constant commitment to education that we can get on top and stay on top in the field of selling. After all, the true professional salesperson is the one who continues to learn after they "know it all".