When it comes right down to it, selling anything is hard work. It’s no easy task creating and maintaining good relationships with businesses to provide them with the best service. Unfortunately, in most lines of work, salespeople get a bad reputation.

To counter this reputation and make yourself better at sales, I urge salespeople to do the following:

1. Listen to needs, fill those needs, and provide excellent service. The best salespeople care more about their clients than making a higher commission.
2. Practice different closing techniques. Every person closes differently and you need to figure out how you close best. Maybe you are an emotional person and are good at making emotionally driven sales or maybe you are a stats person and sell well on hardcore data. Learn what works best for you and go with it!
3. Read books on selling.  A couple of my favorites are “Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Deal” by Zig Ziglar and “To Sell is Human” by Daniel H. Pink. Reading books on how to sell will open your mind to a whole new world of how to up your sales game.
4. Dress well and stay in shape. “Dressing well” means a different level of formality depending on where you work. Observe what others in your position wear and check the dress policy of your company to ensure you are dressed appropriately.  Because I work with a lot of small to medium-sied business owners in the Midwest, I dress in business casual clothing for the majority of my meetings.  When I have a big meeting downtown, I wear a black dress and heels.
5. Keep up on current events. Part of creating relationships with people involves knowing how to make conversation. The best salesmen/women have a broad range of knowledge. Do not be intimidated! Having a broad range of knowledge on different topics does not mean you need to spend hours a day reading, watching the news, and listening to podcasts. If you read the top five articles in the news each day and listen to a news briefing on your way to work, you will be more informed than most people and well on your way to becoming a wonderful conversationalist. Learning about current events is so important because it enables you to connect with people on their interest level.
6. Serve clients exceptionally well and ask for referrals. For example, several times a year we deliver gifts to our clients to thank them for their business as well as to keep us updated on how we can best serve them. The plus side of periodically stopping in and checking in on clients is that these stops usually lead to additional sales! Also, never be afraid to ask a client you have served well for other businesses they think might be interested in billboard advertising.

Sales are hard, but they can also be very rewarding. Keep serving your clients well and looking for ways to improve your sales skills.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Contact me at haleigh@huntingtonoutdoor.com.