Identifying Sellers You Want

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(By Loyd Ford) It’s difficult recruiting great sellers and it can be difficult to hold on to them. But are we doing everything we can to identify elite sellers?

1. They believe in radio. If your seller doesn’t believe in radio, you’ve got the wrong person in that job. You might add to this: They are passionate about what radio can do for clients.

2. They put in effort. You won’t have to wonder what they are up to on Friday afternoon or any other time. Elite salespeople have activity buzzing around them all the time because they started it. All the time. You know this: “An object in motion is likely to stay in motion.”

3. They are servants. They think of themselves as serving their clients (not targeting their clients).

4. They are hungry. Forget looking for new radio sellers. Go look for the hungry. They are motivated to make things happen.

5. The value relationships and building relationships. The very best sellers build relationships, cherish relationships, maintain relationships. And they know relationships are money.

6. They plan. “The battle is won before the first battle is fought.” You don’t have to tell that to an elite seller; they plan out what they are going to do before they see a prospect.

7. They listen. If you read me often, you’ve heard me talk about Meryl Streep sharing the secret of great actors (Hint: It’s the same for great sellers). “We listen and react appropriately.” Notice listening comes first.

8. They’re resilient. You just can’t keep these people down. They know the secret. The more people you see, the more people you sell. They keep getting back up when they get knocked down and they carry a positive attitude.

9. They are competitive. When recruiting, especially watch competitiveness. These people can be the champion lead horses of a really fast sales team. Competitiveness is a major driver. Most people miss it in interviews, and it is a major key to sales success.

10. They focus on what they can control. You know this. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

11. They’re always learning. If you ain’t learning, you ain’t livin.’ If you ain’t livin,’ you ain’t sellin.’ The best sellers are always sharpening their saw and learning ways to be faster, more helpful and more efficient in selling and managing clients.

12. They are honest and focus on being helpful. We’ve all met a salesperson who will do anything to get a sale. This isn’t an elite seller. There is nothing wrong with aggression, but to be a really amazing seller, you have to place people at the top of what you are doing. Being helpful and being seen as helpful are powerful in sales and sometimes that takes telling the client their baby is ugly (business baby…not real baby).

Bonus 1: Amazing sellers embrace, learn and lead in digital selling. It’s true. We are almost a quarter of the way through the 21st Century. Technology is impacting everyone personally and professionally. The sellers you want know that they have to have solutions in digital for clients.

Bonus 2: Great sellers sell ideas, opportunities. They don’t sell units. They don’t sell packages. They sell ideas that customers feel they don’t want their competitor to have, so they buy.

 

Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC).  Reach Loyd at 864.448.4169 or

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