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Choosing Sales as a Career
The ironic thing about choosing sales is that most people stumble across sales as a career rather than treat it as a profession.
The best paid people in the world are sales people and if you become a specialist in what you do you can virtually write your own cheques!
At the centre of all successful businesses is a smart sales force.
My top tips for getting into sales are:
1. Choose your Product or Service Carefully.
There are hundreds if not thousands of businesses wanting talented, dedicated result driven sales people to take their business forward.
Choose a product or service that's good for you.
You have a choice:
Tangible Goods
Non Tangible Goods
Tangible Goods are goods that are physical such as merchandise, CD's, clothing, furniture, cars etc...
These are goods that can be Touched, Felt, Tasted and Utilised.
Non Tangible or Intangible Goods are goods that are service based such as Software, Media sales, advertising, web design and marketing etc...
Knowing the difference is critical as any human being prefers one or the other.
You need to decide which one you like and are more likely to sell.
It is no use being out of your comfort zone promoting a product or service that doesn't feel right or natural to you.
2. Choose the Right Company / People
Look at the company and look at the sales force.
Check the history of the company and all information relating to their products or services offered.
See how they treat their sales staff and if you get a chance speak to some of them.
How are the managers and directors, what's the pay and the bonus structures like?
Do Your Homework.
3. Believe in Your Product or Service
Choose a product or service that you really believe in that will enhance any consumer or business that you are selling to.
The more passionate and enthusiastic that you are the more this transfers onto your prospects and then you are more likely to enhance your sales results.
Passion and Enthusiasm creates emotion and all buying decisions are made on emotion.
4. Read & Study Sales
Read and study as if you are a professional studying academically, wanting to achieve and better yourself with knowledge ready to put it to practice.
Find out who the best sales people are in your field and copy what they do and mirror their attitudes, presentations, their look and words that they use.
5. Listen to Tapes
OK tapes a bit out dated but the best investment that you can make in yourself is a decent MP3 player.
You need to build your self development library.
You need to listen and take in all the advice that you can, listen to people that have achieved and that can inspire you.
Listen whilst you are on holiday, travelling or between appointments.
Take time to study and make sure that you understand everything that you are listening to.
5. If you're already involved with sales you need to keep a diary.
Keep a Diary on all your prospects, telephone calls and appointments.
Then always review your performance on your last call or contact and without being critical ask yourself:
Could i have done that any better?
What would I do different?
What did I do right?
It's very important when doing this to do it in a positive manner not a negative.
Negativity is fatal to a Sales Person and just invokes Fear.
6. Become a Winner
Always, always think like a winner.
Don't become negative or look at what other people are doing, chances are they are doing worse than you but won't tell you.
Simply replay the positives and be willing to pay the price to become a winner.
Don't communicate to people about past failures this is a classic Loser action.
*Remember
Losers talk and review past failures.
Winners constantly review successes.
7. Plan Your Income
Write down precisely what you want to achieve
How much today, this week, monthly and yearly will you earn.
The top sales people in the world when asked know how much that they will earn in that year; always have this written down ready to review and recite.
If you want to earn £85000 a year and you have the right company, structure, knowledge, product or service then what's stopping you?
8. Become a 4%er
The top 4% of sales people in the world are earning 96% of all the income.
Just imagine breaking into the top 4% of sales.
This could be done in time however, concentrate on being the top 4% of sales people in your chosen business.
Find out how the others in that business are doing it and apply some of their strategies and techniques.
9. Practice, Practice
There is no substitute for practice.
Practice does make perfect.
Practice what you will say, your presentation, your cold call you are about to make.
Go over any potential objections that you may encounter and any questions that you can think of.
The more that you practice and do the job at hand the better you will become.
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