Black Sales Journal

Think of the best sales professional that you have ever seen.  Think of what that individual does that sets he or she apart.  Some are personal attributes (SeeBSJ 7/5 -Customer Facing Attributes You Can’t Be Without), some are preparations, and some differences are skills.  Skills are attainable, and can improve with practice, preparation, and a desire to be the best. Let’s touch on the most prominent of those skills in this post.  Yes, the best sales professionals have to be intentional about improving skills and skill sets, as these are the ones that what will make them better sales professionals.

Tools That Change Careers!

Skills are the tools that you need to become as complete as possible.  You can have some of these without having the proficiency to make them count, so acquiring the skills and improving on those that you have are both important acts. Here is the skills roster:

• Superior Interviewing Skills
• Unquestioned Responsiveness Skills
• Solid Communication Skills
• Strong Networking Skills
• Effective Relationship Development/Building Skills (Deep Enduring Relationships)

Superior Interviewing skills – Interviewing skills are important to get the job, and you need to get the job before you can be successful at it.  Master interviewers use a combination of telephone interviews and in person sessions to get comfortable with a candidate.  You want them to get comfortable, and so I suggest the following articles to help you:

Black Sales Journal 1/5/11 Mastering the Telephone Interview Black Sales Journal 9/12/12 An Interviewing

Essential – Communicate Why You are Successful Black Sales Journal 7/7/11 Want to Stand Out in An Interview – You Already Do!

Getting them comfortable includes sharing all positive aspects of ‘you’.  These posts will help, but the most important thing will be how you behave during the interview, so practice, practice, practice.

Responsiveness – Yes, it is a skill! – If you are sales professional responsiveness needs to be your tagline.  It is that part of your ‘tool chest’ which will separate you from your customer’s previous sales professional, and potentially from any in the future. Read these post for deep explanations:

Black Sales Journal 6/16/2011 – Responsiveness – The Objective of the Sales Professional

Black Sales Journal 1/16/2012 – What is the Content of Your Sales Character?

The Black Sales professional has to be most responsive to get the preference that comes with a solid, rewarding relationship.  Never allow your relationship to suffer the chasms that happens in many relationships, which gives opportunities for others to interlope.  Respond with alacrity to customer requests and get the answers they need.  Don’t hide behind your voice mail because your customer needs you.  Change processes and habits to meet the needs of the customer, it will give you the edge for life.

Effective Communications and Listening Skills – Your ability to communicate is crucial to your success.  This is an area that many take for granted and do not ‘practice’ on to the degree that they may need to.  You will not know what your customer needs if you do not have superior probing and communications skills, including listening skills to get out the key information that you need.

Black Sales Journal 11/7/2011 -  Uh! Umm! Make Communications a Strength Black Sales Journal 11/17/2011 – Are You Listening to Your Customers?

Black Sales Journal 3/12/2012 – Are You Asking Your Customers for Feedback?

These items will help you as your skills in this area, yet I will also suggest role-play, videotape, and even the occasional mirror to help you hone your skills.  You cannot avoid being a good communicator if you want to increase your chances of success.

Networking Skills That Fill Your Sales Funnel – You might believe that not everyone can network, but I guarantee you it is a skill that can be learned and even mastered.  Networking is much like speed dating, you get in and out, and get the requisite information to allow a much more impactful meeting at another time.  You are selective, and at the same time ‘throwing a wide net’ in hopes of finding potential customers.

Read these to learn more:

Black Sales Journal 2/21/2011 – Networking for the Black Sales Professional

Black Sales Journal 10/10/2011 – Entrepreneurs – 6 Areas to Focus On

Black Sales Journal 12/19/2011 – 2012 Has Started Already- Three Ways to Increase Your Prospect Base

The ability to network effectively is important for b2b and b2p, and is a skill that is well defined.  In practice working a room is one thing, but in truth it is an art.  The utilization of an effective ‘elevator pitch’ (Black Sales Journal 8/11/2011 – Know Your Elevator Pitch) and efficient and organized notes on who you engaged and talked to are important.  Good networkers are almost always leading the pack on prospect origination.

Effective Relationship Development and Management - You have heard me say on numerous opportunities that the relationship, in most product and service sales, is everything.  The customer is your ‘reason for being’ and you need to make sure that developing deep, enduring relationships is your goal.  It is a skill, and an art that takes times and an understanding of the process.

Read these for more information:

Black Sales Journal 6/18/12 – The Raw Truth About Your Business Relationships

Black Sales Journal 6/24/12 – Why Can’t Johnny Sell?

Black Sales Journal 1/13/11 – Deepening Your Customer Relationships – The Holy Grail for the Black Sales Professional.

No one item will help you more than to have the type of relationships that are built on mutual trust, credibility, and value.  Be astute as to the your customer’s needs and what you might be able to do to add value.  Master the relationship!

Here is a start, and I will continue next post with more skills that change the game.

Take time to master them. Read Monday for Must Have Sales Skills Part II!

Your comments are welcome.

There are no quick fixes!  But…these skills make a noticeable difference quickly.  Paying attention to these, and you wil see the benefits early and often.  Always be the best!

________________________

I hope I never sound like a broken record, but there are some ‘rules’ that I believe in.  One of them is being prepared; another is mastering the relationship.  Those two are important, but there are more.  Realize that you can change the game with these skills and activities.

It is imperative that you have command of some very important skills to help you be successful.  We are going to make the assumption that you have a command of the requisite sales skills.  Warning…those skills are not enough.  You need skills regarding relationship building, responsiveness, and being effective.

It is work being prepared, just as it is work doing those activities that make you effective.  There is no way out around that.  I assure you…these things will reward you for the rest of your career.

Skills and Activities that Change the Game!

Be an Expert or a Specialist

Visit these BSJ articles - Your Customer Needs an Expert and More On Being an Expert

Yes, your customer does need an expert.  They may not have told you, or they might have used some key phrases such as, “I need someone who understands my business.”  Customers do not want pretenders so study your trade and your area of specialization.  When you specialize, you will want to get some certification, accreditation, or degree.  In the absence of those being available, you will want some recognition notoriety.  One way or another, you want to be recognized.  Don’t take this one for granted as it definitely changes the game.

Network Effectively

Visit these BSJ articles– Networking for the Black Sales Professional and Know Your Elevator Pitch

Whether you’re a sales professional that works for a larger concern, or an entrepreneur who runs a one-person shop, you need to hone your networking skills to a degree that you are effective and efficient.  You know the importance, as the professional who is solid at networking effectively is never without someone to present to.  Yes, it is speed dating at its finest but there is no activity like it that can yield these types of favorable results.  You will get a lot of practice at this and a lot of time for trial and error.

Create Deep Enduring Relationships

Visit these BSJ Articles – Deepening Your Customer Relationships and Deepening Your Customer Relationships Part II.  I would also suggest visitingShould You Ask your Customer for Feedback?

Unless your sales job is transactional such as a one-time sale, you will need to have an actual relationship with your customer.  You will need to get to know them, listen to them, and be responsive.  If you cannot develop a relationship that is more than casual, you are always at risk for another sales professional.  Relationships take time, develop dependence, and generate trust.  Who will risk their position, project, and profits on you and your product if you have not been able to develop a relationship?

Be Responsive

Visit these BSJ articles – Responsiveness – the Objective of the Sales Professional and Following-Up! – Correspondence Creates an Edge.

Being responsive and exceeding expectations can separate you from other sales professionals.  Excellent follow-up is an activity that needs more attention.  It can begin to give you a special preference that accrues to someone that others can only hope to copy.   The responsive professionals are in demand because they do the things that others only do intermittently.  They communicate, keep commitments, and look toward the future.  This is a requirement to be the Ultimate Sales Professional (BSJ – Ultimate Sales Professional 1, Ultimate Sales Professional 2, and Ultimate Sales Professional 3) as it definitely separates the professional. Responsiveness is easy to talk about, but more difficult to do, as it requires you to exceed customer expectations, and be what your company needs as well.  It can be done, and you will see that at a point, these two different objectives intersect at a point.

Be Memorable

Visit this BSJ article– Make Yourself Memorable

It is not good enough to be good, or even the best, if you are not remembered!  Take the time to make sure they remember you as it will show well for all reasons.  Always be the professional and never miss a chance to present your (yes, your) brand, as opposed to the company you work for.   Your brand in addition to being responsive and all of the other fine attributes, you stay close.  You drop a handwritten note showing your appreciation.  You pass along emails and newsletters that should concern the customer.  You strengthen the customer’s knowledge and he becomes dependent on you.

Master the Skills – Make the Money

There are more skills that you might need, and more that are crucial at different times, but in the sales arena, if you put these together along with the skills that make you accomplished within the organization that you work in, you can ‘change the game’.

Review the articles that I have shown, and you will see the specifics. Remember, you cannot gain mastery without working at these.

Your comments are always welcome.