{"id":1151,"date":"2020-10-22T11:31:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T18:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/?p=1151"},"modified":"2024-11-22T10:11:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T17:11:33","slug":"3-sales-master-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/3-sales-master-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Most Important Habits of Highly Successful Sales People"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1151-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/wav\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Play.ht-The-3-Most-Important-Habits-of-Highly-Successful-Sales-People.wav?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Play.ht-The-3-Most-Important-Habits-of-Highly-Successful-Sales-People.wav\">https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Play.ht-The-3-Most-Important-Habits-of-Highly-Successful-Sales-People.wav<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI wish we could close more customers\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll never be good at sales\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate selling\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"fusion-dropcap dropcap dropcap-boxed\">I<\/span>f you dislike (or maybe even hate) sales, think you don\u2019t have the personality to succeed in sales, or just want to close more sales for your business, this short article could have bigger impact on your life than you might expect.\u00a0 Sales, after all, is not just a profession, but is a critical skill in many things we do in life \u2013 from getting admitted into a great school, dating, raising kids, advancing in a career, buying a car or home, to organizing a fundraiser, and much more.<\/p>\n<h1>Sales Experience<\/h1>\n<p>I\u2019ve been selling for much of my 35 year career.\u00a0 I joined my first company, Intellution, as a programmer, but on condition with the CEO that I would move into Sales to \u201clearn the business side.\u201d\u00a0 One of the biggest surprises was the change in reaction by people to my sales title versus my previous engineering title.\u00a0 The overwhelming general response was a sudden distrust (of anyone in sales).\u00a0 At that moment, I made it my mission to show that one can succeed in sales without being a slimeball.<\/p>\n<p>In the next few years, I progressed rapidly in sales, building international and mid-west sales using mixed channels of direct and indirect reps, dealers, distributors, OEMs, and VARs, to become the #2 regional sales manager at half the age of most of my peers and reports.\u00a0 Early in my career, I\u2019m thankful for learning a ton from those experienced coworkers.\u00a0 Next, at Lotus (remember \u201cLotus 1-2-3\u201d and \u201cLotus Notes\u201d \ud83d\ude0a), I closed some of my division\u2019s largest enterprise deals in new territories.\u00a0 At IBM, I managed a system that tracked $100B&#8217;s (yes billions) of sales pipeline.\u00a0 At Microsoft, I helped enable their salesforce to unseat the largest (Fortune 50), most entrenched competitive accounts.\u00a0 I built a SaaS CRM platform called Relayte in 1997 before Salesforce.\u00a0 At companies like Qontext, WaveMaker, and Atheer, I successfully led sales and\/or marketing.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve also gone through formal sales trainings from PSS (Professional Selling Skills), Miller Heiman, Sandler Institute to Sun Tzu\u2019s Art of War, and have read\/studied various sales methods from SNAP Selling to Challenger Sale.<\/p>\n<p>Like many professions, there\u2019s no bottom to the depth of refinement and education to master the craft.\u00a0 However, also like other professions, not all skills are equally important.\u00a0 In fact, most are for the \u201clong-tail\u201d refinement when trying to get those last incremental improvements.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that there are just a few skills that will get you most of your sales success.\u00a0 In fact, I would encourage even the most experienced salespeople to revisit these basics and ask themselves if they could still improve.\u00a0 After all, improving a core skill could result in greater results than adding multiple incremental skills.\u00a0 As my valued Ironman triathlon coach, Wayne Spaulding, used to say (to us amateurs), \u201cwhy pour thousands of dollars into an expensive bike to save a few ounces, when you can probably just lose a pound or two off your body weight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201024%2077%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-200x15.png 200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-300x23.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-400x30.png 400w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-600x45.png 600w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-768x58.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-800x60.png 800w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1200x90.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png 1500w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Selling Can Be Learned<\/h1>\n<p>I now work with hundreds of startup founders and CEOs.\u00a0 Many start with technical or domain expertise and quickly realize that any business, by definition really, needs revenue, i.e\u2026sales.\u00a0 Many either don\u2019t like selling, think they\u2019re not good at it, or that it requires some innate personal traits.<\/p>\n<p>Over the decades, I have seen all kinds of successful salespeople, and they come in all shapes and sizes, different personalities, and abilities.\u00a0 The best, however, do three things really well.\u00a0 Plus, like many skills, the better you are, the more fun it can be.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a heap of advice on selling.\u00a0 The problem with books is they need a certain critical weight (literal weight) to justify their existence \u2013 i.e., there\u2019s little motivation to simplify a topic, when you need to print a minimum number of pages.\u00a0 And on the Internet there\u2019s plenty of sales advice, but often listing 10 to 30 or more skills to master.\u00a0 Most of this advice is good; however, it\u2019s often not hierarchical.\u00a0 In other words, not all suggested skills are of equal importance.\u00a0 The following three key selling skills will make a huge difference in your selling success\u2026AND the beauty is: they can all be learned!<\/p>\n<h1>1. Qualify<\/h1>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve received almost any sales guidance, you&#8217;ve heard about \u201cqualifying the lead.&#8221;\u00a0 What does it mean to qualify a lead?\u00a0 The main intent is to determine if you should spend your time and energy trying to sell to that specific prospect.\u00a0 For example, if you\u2019re a cat food salesperson, selling cat food to someone who does not have a cat may not be the best use of your time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBANT\u201d (budget, authority, need, and timing) is a common generic framework for determining whether a prospect is worth spending time selling to.\u00a0 Start with BANT.\u00a0 Budget: Does the prospect have enough money allocated to buy your product?\u00a0 Authority: Are you speaking with the decision maker?\u00a0 Need: Do they perceive that the problem you solve is a priority?\u00a0 Timing: How quickly are they likely to buy?<\/p>\n<p>The nuance I want to really instill here is a prudent habit of <u>ruling out<\/u> prospects that are not a good enough fit, and moving on.\u00a0 \u201cMoving on\u201d requires a healthy supply of leads that include at least some good prospects.\u00a0 Without a healthy, scalable means to generate leads, you may fall into the trap of working really hard (too hard) to close the few leads you do have [Effective lead generation is the subject for another post]. \u00a0Similarly, If none of your leads are suitable, then qualifying out (eliminating) 100% or keeping the top 10% which will never close are losing propositions.<\/p>\n<p>The most effective salespeople know what qualities, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">beyond BANT,<\/span> in a prospect make them the best (e.g., fastest or easiest to close, largest sale) prospects; and they quickly, efficiently, politely determine if a lead is not an ideal fit.\u00a0 They save their precious time and effort for the best leads.\u00a0 Qualify well.\u00a0 Qualify quickly.\u00a0 Qualify early.<\/p>\n<h1>2. Empathize<\/h1>\n<p>Understand your customer, their needs, their motivations, their influences, etc.\u00a0 This is all good advice.\u00a0 However, I recommend a specific critical framework to focus your empathy \u2013 understand your prospect\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/buyersjourney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">buyer\u2019s journey<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 The buyer\u2019s journey is the buying process <u>from the propect\u2019s perspective<\/u>.\u00a0 It\u2019s the flip side of the sales funnel, which is a seller-myopic view.<\/p>\n<p>Sales tactics that attempt to close a prospect outside of their own buyer\u2019s journey are rarely effective, or ruin what could be a long-term relationship with a customer.<\/p>\n<p>For example, think about how you might buy a new car.\u00a0 When you get the idea, do you run out and buy a car?\u00a0 The stereotypical \u201cused car salesman\u201d may try tactics like creating false urgency to get you to skip steps in your preferred buyer\u2019s journey.\u00a0 Otherwise, you might normally think about your needs, speak with your spouse, ask friends for advice, research online, visit showrooms, etc. before deciding what to purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Good salespeople discover the next step in the buyer\u2019s journey and efficiently assist (sometimes even guide) the prospect to their next step.\u00a0 You can only do this effectively when you empathize and understand the prospect\u2019s needs and process.<\/p>\n<h1>3. Commit<\/h1>\n<p>What I mean by commit here is that you get the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">prospect\u2019s commitment<\/span> before you give anything.\u00a0 Too many people mistake a sales role as either a) adversarial \u2013 take what you can get from the customer, or b) subservient \u2013 get them whatever they ask for to appease them, mistakenly thinking this will guarantee a sale.\u00a0 Actually, the optimal role is much more of a peer or \u201ccollaborative\u201d relationship.\u00a0 Sure, you can be authoritative about a domain subject (as in \u201cchallenger\u201d selling).\u00a0 However, many steps in the buyer\u2019s journey may require specific help from you.\u00a0 In fact, \u201cmoving the prospect down the sales funnel\u201d (or part thereof) is a key component of most sales roles.\u00a0 Again, develop your empathy to think more about help them along their buyer\u2019s journey (the flip side of the sales funnel).<\/p>\n<p>The best salespeople, though, do not just serve at the prospect\u2019s every beck and call.\u00a0 They confirm <u>first<\/u> that if they deliver what the prospect asks, the prospect commits to move to the next step in their buyer\u2019s journey.\u00a0 Naturally, they can renege for valid or invalid reasons without much repercussion, other getting requalified by the salesperson.\u00a0 However, blindly jumping through every hoop actually does not serve anyone well.\u00a0 By getting the prospects commitment, they must reflect internally enough to ensure they are asking for something of import to their buying process.<\/p>\n<p>The ol\u2019 dogmatic advice to \u201calways be closing\u201d is actually correct within the right context.\u00a0 However, it does not mean to ask for the order at every encounter.\u00a0 It means moving the prospect to the next step in their process and obtaining their commitment(s) along the way.\u00a0 You can immediately identify a good salesperson when they do this habitually.\u00a0 Great salespeople do all three habitually.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201024%2077%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-200x15.png 200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-300x23.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-400x30.png 400w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-600x45.png 600w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-768x58.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-800x60.png 800w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1200x90.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png 1500w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Bonus<\/h1>\n<p>If you master Qualify, Empathize, and Commit, you will close more sales.\u00a0 If I had to sell and could only choose three skills at which to excel, these are the three.\u00a0 However, as a bonus in no particular order, here are three more that will complement the main three.<\/p>\n<h2>Set Expectations<\/h2>\n<p>Managing prospect\u2019s expectations is a valuable accompaniment to Commit.\u00a0 Collaborating with a prospect on their commitment helps them affirm what is important to them, and proactively helping them see what is not important can reduce sales cycle times and avoid scope creep.\u00a0 Ensuring they commit to a result at each ask will help them set their own expectations appropriately.<\/p>\n<h2>Listen<\/h2>\n<p>Great salespeople listen.\u00a0 It\u2019s virtually impossible to empathize if you talk too much to hear what\u2019s important to the prospect.\u00a0 Even better, ask the key questions that will get to the prospect\u2019s needs and priorities.\u00a0 Saying too much can waste time, bore the prospect, or provide more opportunities for the prospect to object.\u00a0 The best salespeople speak the exact minimum necessary, no more, no less.\u00a0 So many salespeople memorize their pitch and demo and put on their &#8220;dog &amp; pony show&#8221; before asking a single question.\u00a0 The best salespeople start with polite, concise, prioritized, sincere questions.<\/p>\n<h2>Be Timely<\/h2>\n<p>Just as excess words are not a salesperson\u2019s friend, time is also typically not on the salesperson\u2019s side.\u00a0 For example, typically, the longer one takes to respond to a new lead, the greater the probability of closure decreases\u2026often exponentially!\u00a0 Literally, <a href=\"https:\/\/link.ghosh.com\/salesleadresponsetimeminsutes\">minutes<\/a> make a difference.\u00a0 Think of it this way:\u00a0 When you\u2019re hungry, you call a sandwich shop, but your call goes to voicemail.\u00a0 Do you wait hoping for a call back or call the next sandwich shop?\u00a0 The first sandwich shop just lost your order simply because they didn\u2019t pick up your call or call you back fast enough. \u00a0Sure, enterprise sales may not move that quickly, but a prospect will start researching competitors just as fast.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter size-large wp-image-641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"77\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201024%2077%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%2777%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-200x15.png 200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-300x23.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-400x30.png 400w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-600x45.png 600w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-768x58.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-800x60.png 800w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1024x77.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator-1200x90.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Samirs-Medium-Separator.png 1500w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some call it &#8220;consultative selling&#8221; when you collaborate with a prospect.\u00a0 Today, customer success and lifetime value are much better understood and highly valued.\u00a0 Sales can be daunting and seem imprecise, but the skills to succeed can be learned.\u00a0 Make Qualify, Empathize, and Commit habits, and you&#8217;ll be well ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Happy selling!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salesandmarketing","category-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1151"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1505,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151\/revisions\/1505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghosh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}