Education

The Sales Personality

January 5, 2016 | By: deaneparkes

Bernie Siegel MD made an interesting discovery working with patients with multiple personality disorder.

As the patients experienced distinct change in personality they also experienced distinct change in ailments and addictions.

As example in one personality a patient may have a severe skin rash while in another the rash would clear up or in one personality they would be addicted to smoking yet in another be strongly opposed to smoking.

This is a very powerful discovery, which goes beyond my expertise however our personality determines our behavior at work, home and play.

Sales and customer service personality?

Passion – LOVE what they do, BELIEVE in what they sell, ENJOY serving people.

Motivated by goals – They are not satisfied with the status quo.

They want to make a difference and have a way to measure when they are winning. Supervisors who understand this set monthly and/or department goals for the sales staff and reward success.

Flexibility – They do not get thrown off when they make a mistake or run into a customer who is more difficult to please. They do their best to not take it personally!

Ask great ‘probing’ questions and have a sincere interest in the answer – they know getting the customer talking builds trust and long term relationships.

Learn from mistakes – When confronted with a problem they take responsibility for the company to find a solution.

They understand the greatest opportunity to create a customer for life is how well they handle a customer complaint.

Commit to lifelong learning – They continually work to improve product knowledge, sales skills, relationships, listening, merchandising, computer/technology skills, etc?

Top sales people do whatever it takes to continually improve their personal skills.

Respect their competitors – they realize they learn from competition. Competition helps them be on top of their game.

Know their industry – they do their best to be on top of the current topics of interest to the industry…helpful information to the customer not gossip!!

Never over promise – Better to under promise and over deliver!

Sell solutions not products – They realize consumers buy products for the benefit or solution the product delivers.

Share information – Instead of trying to hoard information they understand the way to grow is by sharing what you know with others. ‘The more you give the more you receive’ pretty much sums up their attitude in life.

Advisor – the pinnacle of sales success is to be considered by your customer as a valued advisor in their life or business.

Not afraid of objections – Everyday customers object over price, selection, product knowledge, etc.

The salesperson understands the only reason the customer has these objections is they have yet to understand the true value of the product or service.

High integrity – They will never sell a customer anything they would not buy if they were in the customer’s shoes.

Use time wisely – They realize everyone is given the same amount of time each day and the difference between success and failure is in how we use our gift of time.

Network with experts in their field – Our industry has so many opportunities to meet industry experts.

They take the time to go to the talks, trade shows and consumer shows even if they do not get paid.

Inborn creativity – They understand each person has unique strengths and talents so create the most out of their career improving their specific strengths and talents.

Give more than expected – Life is not a 9-5 experience and a sales professional knows by putting in extra time and energy doing the little things for the customer and their employer so it reflects positively on everyone.

Giving is also not a 9-5 job.

Treat each customer as the most important person in the world – Ultimately I guess we should all strive to treat everyone as the most important person in the world, may make the world a little easier to live in.

We are ALL IN SALES!!

So you think you are just a ‘buyer’ or ‘bookkeeper’ or ‘stockperson’ well think again. In the end the business you work for exists because it sells products. No sales, no business, no job! Everything we do supports or directly influences sales.

As we move into the new world of business your individual talents will be your greatest asset and having the ability to sell yourself and talents may be the key to your ongoing success.