“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” Thomas Edison once said. Salespeople who follow his advice have a good chance of achieving the success they work so hard for.
Here are six tips that may help you join the ranks of the top salespeople:
- Power up. Take the first step on your personal journey. Refuse to accept the status quo. Seize the initiative. Do something different. Your passion drives you to invest in hard work. That movement reinforces your focus and discipline. With increased confidence you take additional action. Take one step. Build from there. Don’t settle for second best. Don’t hold on to the status quo. Break out of the pack. It’s time to change your life, to make new things happen. A positive, can-do attitude is the first step to achieving sales prosperity.
- Exploit your natural curiosity. Top salespeople are the most curious people in the world. They always want to know more, so they test new ideas and look for more opportunities. They create new business and take action others might not understand. Ask yourself the question: How much do I like to learn? Curious salespeople work hard to gain new information. They forget all the reasons they can’t do something, believing they can teach themselves anything. They learn from their failures and use them for increased motivation.
- Know yourself. Have a strong sense of who you are, where your strengths lie and what values matter most to you. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to see new opportunities or take advantage of existing ones. Albert Einstein attributed his success to “curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism.” Apply that intense determination to your own sales life. If you invest thousands of hours in the activities you need the most to improve your selling skills, there is no limit to your success.
- Earn the “I can do anything attitude. Believe you have no limits. To obtain something special, try to develop the attitude that you can accomplish anything. To develop supreme self-confidence, try to attain a small success and then a bigger one. After a while, nothing will faze you. The more competent you become, the more likely you will be to take risks that may lead to sales success.
- Recognize and analyze opportunities. Creative salespeople know how to add value to any transaction. They set aside time each day to find new opportunities, whether it’s with new prospects or existing customers. They exploit opportunities that others don’t see, using solutions that leverage insights others may not have.
- Care about other people. Even top salespeople need help from other people. They treat prospects and customers with care and concern, expecting they’ll receive the same treatment in return. The most loyal customers are usually the ones who receive the best treatment from salespeople.
Adapted from: Shortcut to Prosperity, by Mark Hopkins, founder of Peak Industries, a medical device manufacturer.
