Publish date:

• 25th June, 2021

One of the toughest careers is sales and comes with enormous challenges. Being not everyone's cup of tea, it involves patience and nurturing of leads to bear fruits. The people who thrive on challenges and pressures make great salespeople. To help them, here we have compiled some tips on working smarter and being a great salesperson, in any domain, location or size of company. Let's dive straight into them.

These are the tips all salespeople should know and use:

1. Don't waste time in qualifying prospects. It's always good to know as early as possible if a lead will eventually convert into a sale or are you wasting time? The earlier you know; you can take decision - pursue the lead or drop them for a more promising prospect. Don't waste resources barking up the wrong tree. The earlier you find out its better for you and the company.

2. All communication needs to be simple and dumbed down. Keep all written communication precise, simple and bereft oof jargon. No one has time to read reams of text or reach out for a dictionary. So, begin the relationship with any lead with simple language and engaging material. Don't lose a lead to complexity.

3. Focus on tasks that achieve results. Identify the tasks/things that make an impact and bear results. As we know, not everything you do will make the cut or yield results. Hence, focus energy and resources those that have proved effectful in the past. Prioritise and work. Know your priorities and divide your workday accordingly.

4. Be in a company whose services or products you believe in. Love what you do and love the company you work for. It will make you a more effective salesperson. Your trust, belief and love shine through and makes your sales pitch more convincing. Many people are stuck in companies doing sales just to survive, have an income etc. Try not to fall in the rut.  Love your career or ship out.

5. Communicate in the medium the lead / client prefers. Each person is different with unique styles & preferences. They have their preferred mode of communication : phone, text, instant messaging or face to face meeting. Reach out to them on their preferred way to interact and gain an advantage. If Mr Umang Narang in Palampur prefers phone calls, use it. If Mr Rajeev Trivedy in Delhi prefers instant messaging, go with it.

6. Networking bears fruits. All professionals need to network to make an impact, increase contacts, and build a solid network that will be useful in days to come, in different ways. Network options include trade associations, seminars, conferences and events. Attend them and carry your visiting cards with you to distribute. Keep in touch and build up the rapport with each person over time.

7. Use a good CRM like Salesforce CRM. Tech / digital tools like CRMs to improve productivity and streamline works as well as automation of mundane tasks. The best ally for a salesperson is Salesforce CRM.