Key Takeaways
- A good salesperson does more than sell; they build a relationship and trust with the customer and offers solutions.
- A successful salesperson is a good listener. It is important to listen and understand the challenges that the customer is facing in order to present solutions that will work.
- Asking the right questions is critical to being successful in sales. It is the right questions that provide an opportunity for customers to share their challenges. Successful salespeople are always learning new things from selling techniques to technology in order to bring the best ideas to customers.
- Selling requires independence and discipline. There is no typical day in selling so salespeople have to be able to manage their own time.
- One of the biggest challenges of being in sales is the number of times you hear “no.” Successful salespeople are resilient, have a positive attitude, and are willing to take risks.
- Passion is one of the most important characteristics of a successful salesperson. If a salesperson isn’t passionate about what they sell, it’s unlikely that their customers will be motivated to buy.
- The primary role of a salesperson is to create value for the customer and the company.
- A job in sales can be very rewarding on both a personal and a financial level.
- Companies sell to customers in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) channels. The type of channel is based on the type of consumer who is buying.
- B2B selling differs from B2C selling because there are relatively few customers, larger purchases, and longer selling cycle.
- When you are engaged in relationship selling, you build a relationship and tailor solutions according to your customers’ needs. When you are engaged in transactional selling, you are focused on a single sale or transaction.
- Other selling environments include direct selling (independent sales agents), entrepreneurial selling (a business started by an individual, or nonprofit selling (also called fund-raising or development).
