In my years of trying to sell vacuum cleaners, encyclopedia sets and stock options I learned that it takes special skills to be a good salesperson because as hard as I tried I don’t think I ever sold more than one item from each of the ventures I got involved with.
When I got arrested for going door to door selling kitchen appliances and cooking sets in what is known as a “green” county or area, (Green county or area means it is against the law to sell door to door) I decided that being a salesman was not in my blood.
My wife and I got into having those parties for plastic containers, for cosmetics, and for a couple other ones which I have long forgotten about, none of which we did any good at.
The main problem in all of the above ventures is that my wife and I had given up when we realized just how hard it was to sell the “first” product of whatever we were involved with.
We decided that being a good sales person had to be a gift from God because it was too hard for the common folk to become good at it. We are both a little shy and did not like the idea of how pushy we thought you had to be to be a good salesperson (let alone a “great” one).
Now maybe you can understand where I am coming from when I share with you how to become a great salesperson.
First and foremost let me say that I am still learning to be that great salesperson. And that is one of the keys – “learning” – The sales field is constantly changing and evolving and you must adjust accordingly to keep up with the latest trends – You can’t be “great” if you ever stop learning.
Two: You must know your product. Know it from top to bottom, inside out, backwards and right side up. The more you know about your product or service the easier it will be to dispel any negative comments from your prospect. Your prospect will be able to tell if you’re giving them a rehearsed sales pitch or if you really know what you are talking about.
Three: Be confident in your abilities to explain your product or service. The more self-confidence you have in what you are doing the more control you have over your prospect. They will see and feel how strong you stand behind your products and how sure you are about what you are doing.
Four: Navigate the benefits of your product around their personal needs – to do this you need to ask them good questions as far as what they are looking for. Make it so your product or service will fulfill their needs.
I could go on and on with what it takes to be a great salesperson but what I have shared above will have to do for now. If you can incorporate the above four points then you will be on the road to being a great salesperson.
And the above information can keep you from getting thrown out the front door of a prospect’s house because I took the vacuum cleaner and showed them how it will suck up water by sticking the nozzle into his fish tank – it sucked up one of the fish, of course it died and my vacuum was thrown out the door and of course I was thrown out also.
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In my years of trying to sell vacuum cleaners, encyclopedia sets and stock options I learned that it takes special skills to be a good salesperson because as hard as I tried I don’t think I ever sold more than one item from each of the ventures I got involved with.
When I got arrested for going door to door selling kitchen appliances and cooking sets in what is known as a “green” county or area, (Green county or area means it is against the law to sell door to door)
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