Everyone does not have it, and it will come to light in a time of need.  Courage is the intangible that you must have to achieve your potential.  Those that have it waste less time, exercise more effectiveness, and create better more trusting relationships.  Read and find out why!

_____________________

We don’t talk about courage as the most important trait that a sales professional might need, but I will say emphatically that it is in the top couple of traits you need.  We might term it as ‘guts’.  It is the trait that keeps the sales professional in the game.

It is an ‘automatic’ in the careers for many of the best and because of that it is often taken for granted, but it is one of those traits that some professionals are born with, but it also can be developed.  Yes, sales professionals can develop this important trait, and many do.

Whether it is fairly natural, or developed over time, it is essential if you are in sales for the long haul.

What is Sales Courage?

We are not talking about going into burning buildings to save lives; we are talking about the situations that our profession places us in every day.  Sales couragemanifests itself in so many different ways.  I think it is more easily characterized by asking a few important questions.

You will enhance your career if you have the sales courage to:

• Ask the tough, difficult, and penetrating questions
• Clarify who is making the decision
• Make the next 10 cold calls (then the next 10)
• Walk away!
• Recognize and display your value
• Always be ethical and do the right thing!

Ask the tough, penetrating, and difficult questions – Example, “If we are successful in satisfying the questions you have posed, will we be awarded the contract?”  So many cannot bring themselves a question like this.  If the customer says yes, you can leverage it, and if they say no, you have some more questions to ask.  Ask!

Clarify who is making the decision – There is a way to do everything.  Feel some comfort in having the courage to ask who is going to make the final decision, and what in the product or service is going to make the difference.  Recognize that if you ask it correctly, you will find out whether your ‘buyer’ is gathering the information for his or her manager, is a party involved in the process, or the sole decision maker.  You might say, “Mr. Johnson, is the final decision yours, or are there others involved?”  You might also ask, “I know that price is important, but what other factors are going to determine the outcome for the winning proposal?”

Make the next 10 cold calls- You already know that you will not survive in sales without sourcing prospects.  Making the next 10 calls is a commitment to your trade, and the way you will stay in the game.  Have the courage to make them.  Why 10 calls?  A good reason would be that if you are making your calls in batches of 10 you can easily track your success ratios and keep your statistics on the basis of percentages.  This will help you generate your formula.  After several batches of 10, you will see patterns, your own patterns, which are the only ones that count.  You might take a look at BSJ – 2/28/2011 How Many Prospects do I Really Need.

Walk away! – Yes, you need the courage to say “no” and to walk away from situations that do not fit you or in the end will not work for your and your company.  Do it as early as possible in the process after you recognize the problem, and do it like the professional that you are.  There is no pride in wasting your time.  You might check out BSJ – 11/3/2011 Wanted Sales Professional to Work for Free!.

Recognize and display your value – As a Black sales professional you will be used and abused even when you do your best work, or have the best price.  Some buyers will still not work with you or buy from you no matter what you do.  But many will, and you are doing it for them.  Always display your value as a professional and work through your situations.  Everyone is not a good candidate to work with you!  Never lose the perspective that you have pride and plenty of it, and deserve your chances for success.  If you do the right things, you will have it.

Be ethical and do the right thing! This one is important as it embodies a courage that touches your customer, employer, and even your family.  You cannot run from this one in any aspect of your existence if you are going to be a consummate sales professional.  Have the courage to tell the truth and always do the right thing!

It Will Feel Right!

Seasoned sales professionals learn that when you do these things, you should feel ‘right’.  Courage in the face of the daily sales activities is a necessity.  It avoids the wasting of time, promotes clarity, assures agreement, and just makes sense.

Black sales professionals need to exercise courage, as it can be a perpetual struggle, especially early in their careers.  I will explain that by saying that as long as preference, negative perceptions, and prejudice exist, courage is the word of the day.

This is what gets you through the day, and takes you to tomorrow while you face the fact that your close ratios may be lower than your peers.  Knowing the techniques and the landscape you can be as, or more, successful than all of them.

Always exhibit sales courage!

Your comments are welcome.  You can reach me at michael.parker@blacksalesjournal.com.  Thanks.

The date which we celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday is upon us.   Dr.  King talked of character, and I discuss a professional’s sales character  in this post.  Character is important, and it is what you will be judged by in your professional career.  It is the basis of a meaningful relationships.

_______________

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke eloquently regarding the future saying:

“…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King 8/28/1963

This speech delivered by this iconic individual symbolizes that there will be a day when skin color and race are not used as determinants of a ‘man’, but strength of mind, morality, independence, individuality, and other qualitative factors would be the measure used for judgment.

Obviously we are not there yet, or there would be no need for Black Sales Journal.  Progress has been made no doubt, yet there is still significant work to do.

Black Sales professionals have a lot to offer, and I will quickly define what I will call “sales character” which makes a real difference in professionals.  When you examine sales character, you are looking at some qualities that make a real difference in any sales professional.

The Attributes

I would describe these characteristics or attributes as those that greatly contribute to the content of one’s sales character:

• Ethical
• Mentally Tough
• Persistent
• Responsive
• Innovative
• Humility

There are probably more that qualify; yet these are high on the list.

Ethical – Solid ethics are important in everything, but extremely important in sales, where trust and honesty have high relative importance.  I went in depth on this subject in Black Sales Journal 12/1/2011- Are You Ethical?

Mentally Tough– Strength and toughness are qualities that make up the sales persona of any true professional.  It is so important in this ‘lonely’ profession that if you don’t have it, you should consider another professiona.  Rejection, most of which is not personal, abounds, and this requires a business stubbornness that is somewhat unique to this profession.  Visit Black Sales Journal 12/29 Mental Toughness – Asset For the Black Sales Professional for a review of this valuable topic.

Persistent – Persistence is a trait that makes the sales professional special.  Prospecting activities that bear no fruit are an obstacle to many.  The persistent sales professional who makes 24 calls knows that the 25th may result in an appointment, and also knows that the 26th may bear fruit as he knows his or her metrics and success ratio with making appointments.  I worked at a place once that had a monetary Persistency Bonus for those who kept pushing and pushing.

Responsive – You are responsive because you have customers and an employer who depend on you.  Customers have needs and expectations and deserve a sales professional who can make them a priority.  The employer counts on the sales professional for more than just sales, as service and territory coverage are important as well.  A great reference would be BSJ 6/16 Responsiveness – The Objective of the Sales Professional.

Innovative – The ability to come up with solutions that work in real time is what innovation gives.  Sales professionals also suggest changes in product and process that benefit the customers.

Humility – This one is tough for many sales professionals whose confidence level and sense of being the integral cog overshadows all else.  Being able to credit an associate or sales team is a must.  It is difficult for many professionals even though it should not be.  An associate who dances on the desk after a significant sale does not get it!  Spend that time crediting your associates and act like you have been in the end-zone before.

Real Life

Real life gives you things that you can’t even make up.  Truth be told, it can also give you characters could be on the silver screen.

I gave this example in Black Sales Journal, in Are you Ethical? The Question for All (12/1/2011).  This section was entitled “Even When No One Is Looking!”

I was once riding in a company vehicle with a sales rep and the customer to a business lunch in the Chicago area.  We were coming to a toll both and the rep reached into a bag and grabs a coin, which he deposited in the automatic toll basket and we were allowed to proceed.  At that time the toll was 25 cents.  On the way back from the successful lunch, he did the same.  As he did it, I looked at the bag, which must have had 200 or more coins and inquired as to how he got that many quarters.  He indicated that they were not quarters, but after a recent trip to Mexico he had a bag of centavos that were essentially worthless here.

Remember, this is in front of the customer.  Our customer heard him admit to using worthless foreign coins in the toll basket.  If you were the customer, how would you feel about this reps credibility?  What would you think about the organization that you were doing business with as you witnessed him doing it in front of his manager?

We had to terminate the rep (I refuse to call him a sales professional).  Let’s look at it from an employer’s view.  This unethical individual did the following:

• Sullied his image and the organization’s image in front of the customer creating doubt as to our ethics and credibility
• Engaged in a civil wrong which might have carried criminal penalties as well
• Committed expense fraud as he also received reimbursement for fraudulent expenses

I contacted the customer as I introduced the new sales rep.  I apologized for the fact that our representative did what he did, and explained that I had someone who was solid who would take care of him.  The customer said the following to me, “I really wondered about what organization would allow its employee to cheat like that.  I liked [him] but realized that I did not know him well enough to trust him.”  The customer was watching my response as much as he was watching the actions of the rep.

Summary

I know there are other traits and characteristics, yet these are truly important.  I say we all will be judged by the “content of character” as sales professionals at some point.  Our customer’s and our employer’s notice our character.

Be the best!

Your comments are welcome.  Write me at michael.parker@blacksalesjournal.com.