I remember when I interviewed for my first sales job,

It was with a company called Endicott Johnson Shoes.  They were a chain of full service shoe stores that staffed commissioned sales people.

The Manager leaned over his desk with his palms held up and said ” Donnie, as you can see I have no calus on my hands.  I do not work hard, I have chosen a path of “EASY MONEY” and you can to.”

WOW, I had never met anyone who didnt work hard for a living.  My father was a Military man, and my Step mother that raised me, worked as hard as he did.  I had never had any one even suggest that I could make lots of money with out hard work . 

Of course I took the job !!

  I had never before made ” EASY MONEY”, and I didnt start making it there either.

 Sales managers have often used the promise of easy money to lure in new recruits.  They promise the large paydays for little effort.  The promise of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow proves quickly to be just another fairy tale.

Success takes work.

It is true today and it will be true tomorrow !  You may not be scarring up your hands, but trust me, if you want to enjoy success in the field of selling you will have to roll up those sleeves and get to work.

The fundamentals of good selling have never changed.  It is still a process that will require discipline and attention to detail.

1.  You must be customer focused :    No faking this, you can’t phone it in .  You’ll have to be listening, and focused on the wants and needs of your customer.  A sales person who isnt putting in the time to properly qualify and  interview his prospect will find himself writing deals the bank wont finance, the customer wont buy, and the  Dealership can’t deliver.

2. You will need good training : Gone are the days of ” Here is your pen , Go get em “             Todays customer is better educated, and demands a level of service that only a well trained Sales Professional can deliver

You will have to put in some time, commit to a daily training regiment, and make yourself available to be trained.  In the internet age there simply is no excuse for not training.  There are tremendous resources available for the sales person at the click of the mouse.  These resources can be accessed at any time day or night.  ( on YOUTUBE alone one can find thousands of training videos).

3. You will have to know your product  (Here is the short cut many sales people make.)  I have heard hundreds of excuses for a lack of product knowledge.  But I can can give just one great reasion to spend time getting to know your product—>  SALES.  

You can luck and charm your self into a few sales, Or you can give informed demonstrations, Answer questions , and make several sales

  Think about this :    If the average sales person is not studying his product, what does it take to get above average results?  The difference between good and great is effort

  I will continue this theme in our next post .  I try to keep these to a “short” read

Sell like your living depends on it

Donnie 

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