Students Of Success

Making a living in sales can be very rewarding, however, it can
also be tough at times. That is why it is very important to stay
on top of your game at all times.

Making a sale doesn’t happen by accident or by luck, the sale is
made because the person doing the selling has done a good job of
explaining and representing their products.

Here are a few activities that will help you and your co-workers
keep your sales skills sharp at all times.

Roll Playing

I know this sounds corny, but it really does work, and it puts
everyone in the office in a good mood, because of all the laughs
you will receive.

Make up a few fake, but realistic sales scenarios for you and a
fellow co-worker to act out. Take turns playing the customer and
the sales person. Repeat the scenario several times until you
become comfortable with it. If at all possible, find a third
person to observe and critique your mach sales sessions. If this
is not possible, than critique each other.

Current Events

During each of your sales presentations with a potential
customer, there should be some sort of small talk, or what you
would call a relax period, where you relax your customer by
discussing something other than your business and the product
you are about to sell.

The weather is the most obvious thing to talk about, but it is a
very boring subject and comes across fake, because everybody
brings up the weather when they don’t have anything else to talk
about.

Every day, in the morning, decide on a current event that you
will bring up when making small talk with your potential
customers; Such as a major news event or a major sporting event
that is happening.

This way you will be prepared and won’t run into any snags in
your conversation.

Shaking hands

Get into the habit of shaking hands. Every time you meet a
potential customer, shake their hand. Most of us are comfortable
with shaking hands, but for those of you who are not, here is a
tip to help you reach a comfort level.

Each day that you walk into your office, shake the hands of your
co-workers that are closest to you. Seriously, every morning, go
in, look them in the eye, greet them by name, and shake their
hand. They may look at you as though you are nuts at first, but
explain to them that it is simply an exercise. Trust me they
will get a kick out of it, and will respond with enthusiasm.

Remember, people don’t want to be treated as statistics, they
wanted to be treated as people, so treat them that way. Shake
their hand, look them in the eye, talk about things other than
business, and use their name as often as possible.

By keeping your sales skills sharp, you will ultimately be
keeping your sales up. Good luck!