A question that comes up a lot when I’m running telemarketing training is ‘do you have to be pushy to be successful in sales?’
We think that’s an intriguing question because there may be two schools of thought. One side might say of course you do. Without drive, energy, and the killer instinct, you will never reach the heights of a top salesman and propel your business forward. On the other, one might say that pushy salespeople alienate customers and that style of selling is outmoded and that nowadays it’s about consultative selling.
The reality is that there are a number of skills required to be a successful salesperson. I’m sure if we asked 100 people if they like to be ‘sold to’, 99% would say no and the other would be a salesman and he’d say ‘hell yeah.
But it’s much more about buying than selling these days. Buyers are bombarded with sales messages every day. So, it’s much more about helping customers to buy and solving problems, especially for high-value sales, than overt selling.
So, what attributes and skills support successful selling? The following elements are what we consider to be fundamental when it comes to being successful in a sales environment.
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- Confidence in yourself and what you do
- Drive with an outcome orientation
- A clearly defined target market at which to aim
- A strongly differentiated proposition
- Excellent listening skills
- Communication skills
- The ability to quickly build Rapport
- Being able to identify and empathize with prospect challenges
- Passion for what you do
- Persistence and the discipline to build and manage a sales pipeline
- A strong sales process and good systems
- Momentum to ensure that sales calls are continuously and rigorously undertaken
- The ability to recognize and act on buying signals
- Knowing how to handle objections
- The ability to handle rejection
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And finally, it’s about having the ability to ask for the business. Ultimately, nothing happens without a sales close. However, if you do the other things right above, you will see how often buyers say things like ‘so what are the next steps?’. And there’s your opportunity to close the business and win the sale.
There are of course techniques and all manner of training that you can undertake whether that’s Sandler, SPIN selling, or some other method. However, whatever approach you use it’s likely that you won’t get far without perfecting the skills above.
Do you have to be pushy to be successful in sales? Yes, if that means that you need to push yourself and acquire the skills needed to become a successful salesperson.
If you’d like to know how GSA Business Development can help generate growth for your business or book one of our new business development and marketing strategy workshops, contact us now on 0845 658 8192 or use the form on this site.