ANATOMY OF A SUCCESSFUL SALESPERSON.

I’ve been a salesperson myself since college.

I remember that I was sponsored (a subtle way of saying recruited) by a high school classmate to do multi-level marketing or more popularly known as “Networking” as part of one of the country’s pioneers in this industry.

I managed to become an Assistant Supervisor and still tried to learn the ropes in this business until I realized my passion was not in it. I was only attracted to join it because of the promises of possibly living in a nice house, owning sports or luxury cars, and/or earning 6 to 7 figures a month. Eventually, I would discover it the hard way that not because something is potentially lucrative, you would automatically be successful in it, even if your heart is not in it. Heart must always be there. This would be my first experience in selling.

Fast forward to graduating from college.

I had my second experience in selling in the call center industry where I was taking inbound sales calls and making outbound calls too. My job was to convince target prospects who are micro to small business owners in the US who don’t have a website yet to have their own business website and to buy the site’s domain name, hosting, email hosting, or even e-commerce platform from us, as part of the then project that I was working for.

I clearly remember that I used to bag top sales agent recognitions left and right in those couple of years that I had worked in this industry. My heart was still not so much in it though and I just needed to perform well because this employment was more stable and assuring than the part-time gig in the MLM industry. Nonetheless, I still didn’t last long. I would realize that necessity may push my heart to try to love the job that I was doing, but it still wasn’t enough. This would be my second exposure in sales.

Since then, I got into the Human Resources profession particularly Organization Development and Employee Training and Development and it was a while before I could experience selling products or services again.

Fast forward to retiring for good as an employee and finally making that great leap of faith to test the waters of “Entrepreneurship” with MSS Business Solutions. 

I can say that this next experience, as a businessman, has been more challenging and comprehensive so far. On top of my primary business “selling” our services and solutions in professional corporate training, resource speaking, consulting, team building, leadership and management mentoring, and core skills coaching, we’ve had other business ventures as well. From selling “Ready to Wear” apparel at a Tiangge, operating a food cart and a neighborhood sundry store, running a co-working space, selling online gourmet smoked fish and dried fish flakes and whitening soaps and salt scrubs, doing business in woodworks or carpentry, and to running, what’s still operating until today, a pandemic-protection products supply business, we’ve been in sales-centric ventures a lot.

While not all businesses I’ve mentioned here are still operating, they had been successful while they lasted though. We’ve been successful.

Why and how?

In these years of experience in selling, I’ve personally come to the conclusion what usually makes up results-oriented salespeople, thus, “The Anatomy of a Successful Salesperson”.

Let me share 3 things that we should all know, have, and embody in our sales businesses or jobs:

#1: PASSION:

It’s hard to excel or perform well in a sales job or business where passion is absent. The job or the business may be lucrative or sustainable, but it is the person who can never sustain him/herself in the job or business if passion is not there.

Like in my case, back in college, I discovered that Networking may be a good business but it’s not for everyone especially for those who don’t love doing it. Because if we continue doing something that we can never learn to at least like, we would just be making a fool of our self. This is what happened to me.

Thus, if we want to be a successful salesperson, be it in employment or in entrepreneurship, we must first love our job or business and believe me, it will automatically love us back in the form of higher sales and better productivity.

(If you’re looking for a resource talk on Loving One’s Job, click here.)

#2: SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE ARE GOOD AT ATTRACTING AND ACTING ON WHAT THEY ATTRACT:

When we’re in Sales, it’s seldom that we don’t know what the “Law of Attraction” is. Usually, we’ve all listened to an inspirational/motivational speaker talk about it, we’ve watched or read it somewhere, or we’ve simply heard of it.

The Law of Attraction simply states that whatever we attract, be it lots of sales, high commissions, or wealth, it will come to us.  Just the like saying that goes,

Whatever the mind conceives or perceives, the body will surely achieve.

Whatever we attract, will become our reality. Think of it, say it, and claim it. It shall be ours.  

However, there’s something that a lot of people are misunderstanding or missing out on here. It’s not enough to be attracting success. There are some people who keep on thinking or dreaming of becoming a millionaire, becoming the top sales employee of the year, or earning more money, but they never truly work hard or enough for it. They simply attract it, literally. That ends there.

The word “ATTRACTION” in this context is actually a combination of two words that depend on each other. On one hand, we must “ATTRACT” the achievement of our goals and objectives in sales. That’s correct. But on the other hand, is the word, “ACTION”. We can’t just ATTRACT something. We also have to seriously ACT on it.

Successful people excel in both. They motivate themselves and allow themselves to get inspired by their idols who’ve been there and done that, but they immediately put their plans into action to achieve great results as well.

In my own version of the Law of Attraction, I call this the “C Sequence”.  CONCENTRATE on it (This is the ATTRACT portion), CONVERT the positive thoughts and feelings of the concentration into enthusiasm and passion, and CREATE opportunities (this is the ACTION portion).

(If you’re looking for a resource talk related to this, click here)

We, human beings, have the most impactful “MIND POWER” among God’s creations. This is true. Our mind is very powerful. Whatever it attracts, if taken seriously, almost always becomes a REALITY. We just have to follow through with concrete, consistent, and committed actions.

#3: LAST BUT NOT LEAST, SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE HAVE THE INITIATIVE TO BE THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE AND SKILLFUL IN WHAT THEY ARE SELLING.

Excellent CHARACTER is not enough to sell tremendously and have success. We can be the most passionate and industrious salesperson on the planet, but if we’re unable to convince our leads to buy, it’s just setting us up for failure. It’s the same when we don’t showcase “STREET SMARTS” or “DISKARTE”. A wise salesperson always beats the intelligent one. A street-smart salesperson is almost always at the top. 

Great salespeople don’t wait for somebody to tell them to master what they’re selling, be it a product, a service, or a solution. They take the initiative to be really great at what they’re doing or better yet, be the best in it. Whatever they don’t know yet, they know about it. Whatever it is they aren’t able to do very well yet, they specialize in it. Whatever it takes. No matter what.

At the end of the day, potential buyers would like to know if buying what’s being sold to them is all worth it depending on whether or not they truly need it or it’s really the answer to their question, the solution to their problem, or the corresponding provision to their need.

Therefore, serious salespeople should master every single aspect of what they’re selling, both the features and the benefits. This also includes both the frequently asked and even unexpected but possible questions that will be asked (they should have a ready, convincing answer for it), concerns that will be raised (they should already have ways to address it), demands that might be brought forth (they should be assertive to tell when it’s not possible or allowed), and complaints that will have to be handled (they should have the expertise to deal with it).

So, these are the 3 aspects or factors that we need to know – the bones, the muscles, and the organs that form “The Anatomy of a Successful Salesperson”. If we possess them, enrich them, and be consistent with them, there should be no way why you and me can’t be more successful in the job or business of selling.

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