The Organized Mind

Only certain people have the ability to consistently perform well in sales. Those individuals have a rare combination of natural talent, skills, knowledge, and practice.

Anyone with enough ambition can learn skills, acquire knowledge, and find opportunities to apply them. Without natural talent though, all the skills, knowledge, and practice in the world won’t make a salesperson great.

You must maximize who you are rather than trying to make yourself someone else. Trying to be someone you’re not is exhausting and dispiriting, and it leads to mediocrity.

The places where you don’t see a direct link between your talents and your role could become areas of weakness if you don’t manage them. If those areas are getting in the way of your job performance or disturbing your co-workers, then they matter, and you have to manage them.

Your talents are innate. But talent alone doesn’t make a strength. To develop your natural talents into strengths, you need to add skills, knowledge, and practice.

One of the truisms of business is: you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

A good way to measure how effective you are at prospecting is to keep track of your inbound and outbound calls, the number of people you talk to, and the outcomes of your conversations.

Answer the question “What’s in it for me?” from the prospect’s point of view. Then you’ll be ready to provide evidence that your company’s product or service can do what your prospect needs it to do.

Get past the “gatekeepers” (those administrative assistants who get between you and the prospect) by convincing them that one of the best things their bosses can do is spend time talking to you.

Always name the highest price you reasonably can when price discussions begin. Regardless of what the final price is, the customer will remember the anchor price and feel that he or she has saved money.

Building lasting connections with people who can influence the prospects you’re trying to connect with will improve your odds.

Sales requires determination and the ability to shrug off rejection. But there is such a thing as smart time management, and wise salespeople recognize futility.

When working to understand different ways to get in the door, look for a more obscure route that your competition has missed.

To find a solution, you don’t need to know all the answers, but you do need to ask the right questions.

The first step to finding solutions is differentiating your customers and knowing them individually.

Increasing the breadth and depth of your partnerships inside your organization is crucial to providing client solutions. Make your fellow employees see themselves as an integral part of that process.

Before you go to the client with a brilliant idea, you should know the price of that idea. That requires scoping the solution thoroughly, now and for the future.

Unless you’ve diligently priced and scoped the project before you take it to the customer, the customer will inevitably price it themselves. So don’t present a solution unless you’re ready to have a discussion about price.

Seek information that helps you develop an understanding about what is important to your advocates and what they need from you to strengthen your partnership.

Go into the negotiating and closing process more informed than the client and your competitors. Do your research about the customer’s probable objections—and the comparisons they may make between you and the competitors.

A customer who is willing to refer you and your organization is seizing an opportunity to promote a smart decision he made in selecting you. You shouldn’t let clients miss opportunities to make themselves look good.

The dynamics of a team can often be confusing. Use your ability to pick up on the emotions that occur within the team to help individuals better understand one another and why they may be feeling the way they do.

To become engaged in your work and get the most out of your talents, you need to take ownership of your own engagement. And that may mean talking with your boss about how he or she can best support you.