Many of the available jobs in the market are not published by the companies. This is the perfect opportunity to make a spontaneous application.
Don’t know what it is? The spontaneous application is a way of getting someone to know you,
to make your own self promotion. And exactly how do you do it?
Just write and publish your own job add. Write and send letter with a spontaneous application. Advertise yourself!!
How do you write your own add? Start by gathering and analyze several job offers to sharpen the way to write your add. Keep in mind that to be effective, the add must be:

. Comprehensible (easy reading)

. Direct (written in telegraphic style)

. Objective (highlighting the most important aspects regarding the job you want)

. Appealing (in order to motivate your potential employers to get to know you better)

. Graphic Look (highlight the words that better describe your professional qualification

or the kind of job your looking for)

. Shape (the kind of presentation. Usually, the horizontal ads are more appealing)

Before you publish your add, give it to someone you can trust,
so that can be reviewed by an outsider.
When you publish you own add, you’re offering your services.

The Spontaneous Application Letter

What

A. You can`t build anything without a solid foundation. The A is for Attitude – the foundation of all successful sales people. Without a positive attitude and belief in yourself, your organization, It`s products and services and the market, there is no foundation upon which to build success.

Sales professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude, realize it is theirs, develop it into a millionaire`s attitude, overcome fear and be able to deal with rejection, increase productivity and save time and money.

Sales professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude toward the organization`s mission statement, products and services and team members, while developing an owner`s mentality.

Sale professionals need to reflect, confirm and take hold of their attitude towards the market, knowing how they are perceived, while profiling the ideal prospect and fully understanding their competition

B. Sales professionals could have a fantastic attitude, but a positive attitude alone is not enough to guarantee long term sales success. You need goals and an action plan to get you where you want to go. The B is for Behavior – the daily actions that are required to accomplish goals. Goals and behaviours from a personal, organizational, and market targeting level. Without these goals and behaviors there is no motivation, no ownership mentality or drive to go the extra mile.

Sales professionals need to learn the relationship between consistent positive behaviours and success. The first step is to learn this on a personal level. Sales professionals need to identify and develop personal goals and action plans based on why they come to work.

Sales professionals then need to follow the same procedures to develop goals, action plans and behaviors for organizational objectives while improving their time management skills.

Sales professionals need to know how to target their sales efforts through the 80/20 rule and the ABC target model while obtaining pertinent industry, organizational and client information.

C. This is the area where traditional sales training has placed all its efforts – on sales techniques. In this ongoing, non traditional sales approach the C is for Competency – the capability of following a sales results system with the appropriate sales competencies to build and maintain long term relationships. Without a sales results system and without the sales competencies, time is wasted and there are no meaningful sales results.

In order to build a long term relationship, one must first establish rapport. Sales professionals need to learn about the relationship selling model, the components of the rapport pie and how to build rapport in the first 30 seconds of meeting.

Once rapport has been established, questions can then be asked. Sales professionals need to learn why questions are so important, the type of questions that should be asked and how to deal with questions from the prospect or client without giving free consulting. When asking questions, sales professionals must listen effectively, and learn how to qualify opportunities by setting the parameters, uncovering buying motivators, financial ability, decision making processes and summarizing prior to making a proposal or presentation, referred to here as a prescription.

Sales professionals need to learn how to prescribe solutions specific to the customers needs, letting the customer buy, retaining the account, keeping competitors out and developing the account to its maximum potential.

Now that the prospect has purchased the solution, Sales professionals need to maintain the relationship, develop the account for more business and how to obtain new prospect introductions and referrals.

The Bottom Line: Sales is as easy as ABC. Sales people need to follow a proven Sales Results System, or sales process. Businesses today cannot succeed without sales. Without sales there are no transactions. Without transactions there is no revenue. Without revenue, there is no business, no jobs, no bottom line. Sales is the bottom line!

Like any business… there are prospects and there are suspects. Which ones would you rather spend your time talking to? I hate to be blunt, but if you continue to waste your time dealing with suspects, you may just miss out on that “home run” real estate deal that you have been waiting so patiently for! How do you think I know this?

My personal philosophy on this is… get rid of the suspects at lightning speed! They are nothing but “Time Vampires”!

Once again, how do you think I know this? Been there… done that! That’s right; when I first started my real estate investing career I personally spent many hours on the telephone speaking to unmotivated sellers that really didn’t care if they sold me their house or not! In some cases, I think they just wanted somebody to talk to and somebody to listen to their story. Unfortunately, that somebody happened to be me. It didn’t take me long to figure this out and once I did, I freed up more of my time to deal with the people that really wanted to sell me their house!

When you apply this simple, but very important and effective strategy, you will be truly amazed at the results! Remember this; it’s your job as a sophisticated real estate investor to understand what the seller’s “true” motivation really is! Take a look in the mirror. You will notice that you have been blessed with two ears and only one mouth. There is a hidden message here. It goes something like this… We should be spending twice as much time “receiving” as we should be “transmitting”! Think about it for a minute. Kind of an interesting concept… isn’t it?

Once you understand the seller’s “true” motivation for selling, you will be amazed at how creative you can really be. To further support my theory, I will provide you with an example of a real deal that I created many years ago: I received a call from a prospect that was looking to sell his house. He called me as a result of one of my creative marketing campaigns that I was running at the time. I will not disclose his name, so I will call him Bob. During my “brief” (notice how I used the word…brief) conversation, I asked Bob why he was selling his house? He proceeded to tell me his story and believe me, there is ALWAYS a STORY! In his case, this particular property was not his primary residence. In fact, he had a relative renting the house.

Tony’s Tip: Never rent a house to a RELATIVE or a FRIEND!

The relationship was not great and they had indicated that they would be vacating the property very soon. Bob advised me that he did not want to deal with The Terrible T’s™ (Tenants & Toilets), so he had made the decision to sell.

Once I understood his underlying motivation, I then proceeded to ask him if he “had to sell the property”. His answer was…”not really”. I then proceeded to ask the following question; “If I could show you why you shouldn’t sell your house, would you be willing to provide me with the opportunity to take over the day to-day management of the property?”

In essence, I would do all the work, while they could sit back and watch their investment grow. He liked that idea, but advised me that he would first have to consult with his wife Betty (not her real name). Good choice and a smart man, as I could personally relate to that request! I apply the following rule in my personal life… Happy Wife, Happy Life!

We set a date and time to meet. In advance of this meeting I performed a comparable market analysis (CMA) in order to obtain a better understanding of the “true” market value of the home. To cut a long story short, I met with Bob and his lovely wife Betty. I convinced them (using fundamental support information) and of course… a little bit of my “salesmanship” and my “charm”, that the housing market would continue to rise substantially over the coming years. As a result, I offered them FULL market value (on paper) for their home. They agreed and I immediately assumed full responsibility of the day to-day management of the property. In essence, I turned the sellers and owners of their own home, into Joint Venture Partners. This was a great deal for me, as I just purchased another home with no money down and I did NOT have to… pledge my first born at some bank!

As I mentioned, I transacted on this particular property quite a few years ago. This property has since been sold – we sold it at the peak of the run up in real estate values in 2007. So this is how the deal turned out… we held the property for a period of about three (3) years. During that time I received 50% of the cash flow ($250.00 my share) per month. We sold the property for $465,000. During that hold period the mortgage was paid down by about $10,000. The (approximate) net gain on the deal worked out to be about $275,000, plus annualized (3 year) cash flow of approximately $18,000. Divide these numbers by two and my share was approximately $146,500. Not a bad return on my investment! Oh, sorry, I forgot one small detail…I did not put any of my own money into the deal, so it was actually an infinite return on my investment!

Personally, I hate these types of deals as there is no way for me to calculate my return on investment since you cannot divide your return (payday) into nothing down! Just kidding… I was okay with it, as it was another free house and free cash! Now that’s my kind of deal!

Did everybody win? Absolutely! This is the ONLY way to do business! Let’s recap the deal here: My Joint Venture partner (the seller) was looking to sell their home. Had they done so back then, they would have been lucky to pay off the mortgage balance and break even. I guess that’s what prompted Bob to respond to my advertisement in the first place… and he may not have even done that if they used a Realtor to sell their house. Because I was able to show them why they shouldn’t sell their home, they pocketed a COOL $146,500 in profit, and they did not have to do anything except sit back and… Enjoy the Journey!

So how was all of this possible? Remember, I took the necessary time to understand their “true” motivation! With a little bit of training, you can do it too! It’s really not that difficult! You never have to take advantage of anyone or steal anyone’s home from them, in order to make money! It truly is possible for everyone to win!

As a result of speaking to thousands of sellers over the years, I have developed and obtained a unique ability to create a deal from just about any situation.

If you would like to “STOP… Swapping Your Hours for Dollars” and “Give Up Your Day Job”, then I encourage you to “EDUCATE” yourself and become great at creating deals where everyone wins… You WILL be glad that you did!

Have you ever wondered how two companies can offer a similar service but one is good and the other is bad. I believe that often the cause of the bad service offering is rooted in the culture of the leadership of that organization. Typically there is a culture of arrogance that starts with the leadership but permeates throughout the organization. These companies become complacent and aloofly feel that their offer is great (as is), and refuse to listen to feedback from prospects. Please realize that I am not referring to customer feedback.

If they are already customers, most companies (even arrogant ones) will listen or even seek customer feedback. The feedback I am referring to is from prospects; those who have recently bought and those who did not. The insight into what about your offer is compelling, and what is not, lies within this group. Possessing this buyer knowledge is invaluable to any organization looking to grow and evolve their offer into one that buyers cannot refuse. Where can you obtain this precious information?

This information comes from Sales Stars.

In case you have trouble spotting them,

Look Here,

They are consistently in the top half of your sales performance indication list for revenue production. They have the ability to give great sales presentations, the ability to sell when others aren’t, and the ability to manage their time effectively. But one thing that often gets overlooked is that the very best salespeople in the world are also a kind of corporate Special Forces. They are Commandos in the war against mediocrity. They are fierce competitors, always on guard against anything that would jeopardize the business that they have earned and most of all, the voice of the customer to their own organization.

Managing top performers is not always an easy task. A balance needs to be struck between challenging them to be the best they can be and leaving them alone so they do not feel micromanaged. Anyone who has managed, been managed by or is a top sales performer can attest to the many personality quirks that come along with elite performers. However, a common thread among the best of the best is that they have little tolerance for anything that could tarnish their reputation. To that end, when the company they represent drops the ball, they are the squeakiest wheel. Any company would do well to listen attentively to their top performers and to adjust their operations accordingly.

The Upper Management Eclipse

It is common these days to see sales management executives concerned primarily with the appearance of their performance, instead of the efficacy of it. Many times, these sales managers focus more on what will make them look good to their direct reports instead of focusing on how their company can do good for their most important investors – their customers.

Often times, organizations get stuck doing the same thing over and over again but in today’s economic climate that just doesn’t cut it. Listen to your sales leaders – they have the direct knowledge of how your company is perceived by those who truly matter most. If you want to know where to invest in your offering, if you want to know which initiatives to pursue, and if you want to know how you’re really doing as a company, just ask your top sales performers. Better than any crystal ball is the insight of those who’s very living depends upon living up to their word. When their word depends upon the performance of others, salespeople get understandably sensitive when other people don’t live up to their end of the bargain. In every salesperson’s job description, right along with new business development goals, there should be a section that clearly appoints them and explicitly charges them with the task of holding their own organization accountable to deliver on its promises.

No one else has this depth of insight and clarity of vision into the things that make or break sales effectiveness. No other department has this level of motivation to get and keep customers. We all know that effective sales are the lifeblood of any organization. Even if your salespeople are telling you things you don’t want to hear, and even if you have some serious doubts about their motivation for doing so, try to glean some thread of truth from the things that they are saying. It just might be that you will find that the words and thoughts of your sales stars are truly prophetic and might help you avoid fiscal catastrophe. My recommendation is, if you currently do not have a forum to share brutally honest feedback, put it at the top of your to do list; you will thank me later.

Obviously, this type of ‘voice of sales/voice of prospect’ forum must not be allowed to supplant selling activity, but if you hire the right people, this will not be an issue.

Please share ideas for establishing an effective forum for sales input.

We have come to know a lot about employee motivation. We know that the ultimate responsibility for motivating employees lies within the individual employee. We know that both the meaningfulness of the work and the work environment itself can have a sizable impact on employee motivation. We know that intrinsic rewards and motivators tend to have a much longer lifespan for employees than extrinsic rewards and motivators. And, we know that what motivates one employee will not necessarily motivate another.

But sometimes a little knowledge can be dangerous. What do I mean? I mean that knowing what motivates employees is only half the battle. The real test is our ability to create a culture that fosters high morale and motivation. Too often we fall into the trap of incorporating the latest and greatest motivational programs in hopes of creating improved performance. These short-term remedies can often serve as band-aids to problems that require much greater attention. As a result, improvements in morale and motivation tend to occur sporadically within an organization instead of in a collective, synergistic way.

The solution is an integrated approach. What is needed is an organizational-wide, integrated approach to creating a culture of high morale and motivation. What is needed is a top-down management philosophy and corresponding strategies that integrates management practices with efforts to enhance employee motivation. What is needed is greater consistency throughout the organization in communicating to employees about performance standards, expectations, feedback and professional growth opportunities, to name a few.

Why is integration so important? Without an integrated approach to creating a motivated workforce, inconsistencies will surface throughout the organization and quickly sabotage any positive momentum that occurs. For example, a high performing supervisor will quickly lose her motivation if she keeps getting her decisions overturned by her respective manager. A great benefits program will do little to motivate employees if the tension in the office is so thick that you could cut it with a knife. An awards luncheon will send mixed messages if employees are expected to pay for their own lunches. A supervisor who preaches value-added customer service and then yells at his employees will quickly lose respect as well as the value-added customer service that he so desires. In each of these examples, there are contradictory messages that ultimately will serve as de-motivators and most likely lead to employee apathy.

In an integrated organization, management practices are in much greater alignment with efforts to improve morale and motivation. Managers and employees alike have clarity on their roles and responsibilities and communication from the top-down is both frequent and fluent. Motivational programs support efforts towards greater morale and productivity but are not seen as an end in itself. And most importantly, all employees, from the CEO down to the frontline worker, understand their role in making the organization successful.

HOW INTEGRATED IS YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Below are 20 assessment questions for you and your organization to address as honestly as possible. Each question either directly or indirectly impacts employee morale and motivation. The more questions that you can respond with a definitive YES, the more integration there is in your organization.

1. Do you have an organizational-wide philosophy and corresponding strategies that addresses employee motivation?

2. Have you ever conducted a comprehensive assessment of current organizational practices, programs and management techniques that impact employee motivation to determine their effectiveness?

3. Do you specifically attempt to hire employees who have a proven record of self-motivation?

4. Do your performance reviews measure the individual characteristics needed to sustain a work environment of high morale and motivation?

5. Is ongoing feedback available on all levels and in all directions throughout the organization?

6. Is there consistency in how managers manage within the organization?

7. Are employee and departmental performance expectations clearly defined and mutually shared to enhance accountability?

8. Do employees have access to the resources they need (both within and outside the organization), to adequately meet the demands of their jobs?

9. Are disciplinary issues handled swiftly and consistently?

10. Do employees have input into their work processes?

11. Does the CEO practice the behaviors that he/she expects to see amongst the workforce?

12. Are employees throughout the organization expected to complete a professional development plan each year? If so, are these shared within the departments?

13. Can employees explain the vision and mission of the organization and relate it to what they do on a daily basis?

14. Is mutual respect displayed between employees? How about between departments?

15. Are technical and soft skills training made available to employees on an ongoing basis?

16. Are personal and professional development opportunities made available to employees within the organization? If opportunities are limited, can an employee pursue an opportunity outside the organization and know that he/she has the support to do so?

17. Are communication processes effective within the organization, especially from the top-down?

18. Are employees rewarded and acknowledged for performing above-and-beyond what is expected of them?

19. Are the benefits within the organization representative of what is important to the employees?

20. Would employees say that your organization was a fun place to work?

Consider the following scale in rating your organization:

16 to 20 YES responses: Very Good

11 to 15 YES responses: Good

6 to 10 YES responses: Poor

1 to 5 YES responses: Yikes!

Each of the questions above represents areas that need to be integrated together in order for your organization to have a consistent message around employee morale and motivation.

The ultimate aim and objective of a business organization is to earn profits. This is achieved through increased sales of goods and services. It is the duty of the sales manager to increase the motivation and boost the morale of an employee. Employees belonging to all the departments in an organization require motivation. However, it is generally seen that it is the employees in the sales department in an organization that need to be motivated the most. The success of the organization ultimately depends on the efficiency and capability of the sales team. It is the duty of the sales manager to boost and motivate the morale of the sales team. There are a number of techniques and methods that have been designed to increase the motivation level of a sales team.

It is advisable that involving employees and subordinates in the process of goal setting can greatly help in increasing the motivation levels of the employees. When employees are involved in the process of goal setting, it inculcates a sense of responsibility within them. This keeps them motivated and encourages them to achieve sales targets. The goals should only be made after detailed consultation with the entire team. Improved channels of two-way communication between the management and the sales staff also helps in increasing motivation. Managers are advised to pass on all essential information required to their subordinates, at the same time they should also be prepared to receive and act on feedback given by the employees. Employees who feel that their needs are being noticed and taken care off tend to be highly motivated. They should be given appropriate rewards and financial incentives linked to their performance. This will motivate them to work harder to achieve targets. Theories presented have proved that apart from financial incentives employees also value management recognition and appreciation. Acknowledging the work and efforts of the employee greatly helps in increasing the level of motivation.

Sales motivation proves to be extremely important for any organization. A well-motivated sales team proves to be a significant factor in the success of any organization.

It is important for you to appreciate that you are not merely involved in sales. Selling is your career. You’re a professional.

There is a vast difference, that you must never lose sight of.

The dictionary describes a professional as someone “engaged in a specific activity as one’s main paid occupation”. It also describes a profession as ” a vocation or calling that involves some branch of advanced learning”.

It is clear that both these definitions are appropriate descriptions of the work in which you are involved and distinguishes you as a professional..

Everyone is involved in selling:

When you come to think about it, everyone is involved in selling in some way or another. Selling is persuasion and negotiation.

Think of a small child and parents in a department store. The child sees a
tempting toy; gains attention by dragging the parents towards the item; then begs the parents to buy the highly desired item.

In return the child promises to reward the parents in a variety of ways.

The promises are tempting: Never to nag again; permanent good behavior; eating vegetables and other appealing forms of behavior.

The child is an excellent natural negotiator and the parents, sold on the idea, agree to keep their side of the bargain!

Or consider the politician, who attempts to persuade constituents to vote for him, promising in return increased benefits. The preacher promises spiritual satisfaction for adherence to a certain moral and ethical code.

Everyone in every calling offers something in return for something else.

There is hardly an aspect of life that does not contain the same elements. The difference between your occupation and that of a doctor, lawyer, dentist, accountant, teacher – to use just a few examples – is the nature of the service being offered.

Never forget you are a professional.

Your occupation is your main source of income. As a professional your occupation required some form of advanced learning. The fact that some professions involve a greater length of time in the learning process is irrelevant.

Like everything in life, your success in your chosen profession depends on your skills.

Of course you already possess certain skills. But like all professionals, you are very much aware how important it is for you to improve your skills.

Selling, as you well know, is a skill. It is a skill that can be improved with training.

The importance of a positive attitude.

Many people involved in sales unfortunately have a negative attitude unworthy of their profession. They feel that in some ways it is not as prestigious as other more glamorous or charismatic professions.

To some extent this has been due to an unfortunate stereotype that has been perpetuated in literature, the cinema and T.V.

The Salesman is often portrayed as an overbearing, or cunning,devious person who will use any means to trick unwary customers to buy a product of dubious quality.

Sometimes the Salesman is depicted as a struggling, loser who drifts from one job to another.

Consider the type of person many people have been conditioned to think of as the “typical” car salesman. This unfortunate stereotype persists.
.

Some professional sales people come to accept this completely fallacious, demeaning view of themselves as accurate!

Often there is a tendency to belittle oneself and not attach sufficient importance to the very important role played in our economic system.

As any economist will tell you, nothing could be further from the truth. The salesperson is an absolutely essential cog in the wheel of our democratic, free enterprise system and our capitalist economy.

Without this vital link between the producer and the final customer commerce would grind to a halt.

Compare your career with those of others.

Have you ever stopped to compare your vocation with that of someone involved in what might be considered a more glamorous profession?

A close examination of many occupations will reveal that in many cases the work is tedious, dull, boring and monotonous in the extreme.

I mean no disrespect to the important work carried out by people involved in other professions, but can you imagine yourself having to cope day after day with the physically demanding profession of dentistry for example?

Can you visualize yourself continually examining the teeth of patients, day after day, hour after hour?

I had an interesting experience a short while ago. It re-enforces the idea that not all professions are as attractive and as charismatic as they may seem on the surface.

The son of a friend of mine is an airline pilot with an international airline.

Can you think of an occupation that presents as much glamour and prestige in the eyes of the public?

But in a recent discussion with him I was very surprised indeed to discover that he found his career monotonous and boring. He seriously considered changing his career, even though it would mean a considerable drop in salary.

The rewards of a selling career.

As you will appreciate, everything depends on your attitude to your work. Selling, as a profession can be exciting, stimulating, satisfying and immensely rewarding financially.

Every day presents new challenges. There are no limits to the goals you can set yourself.

You can look forward to each day with eager anticipation. Unlike many other profession it is never boring.

And, as has been pointed out, it is important to continually improve your skills and levels of expertise. The rewards you receive will be commensurate with your effort.

Devote yourself to becoming proficient in every aspect of your profession.
Improve your product knowledge so that you are regarded as an expert in the particular field in which you specialize. There is no end to the possibilities and the challenges.

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For information about effective ways to close sales and clinch deals successfully, and to find out about handing difficult personalities in business, visit the author’s website http://www.secretsellingstrategies.com

Managers who attend management training courses, often ask what the key motivators are of successful salespeople. If these key motives can be better understand, they will be more effective at managing these successful people.

Personal success clearly comes before team performance

Top salespeople are rare. What really distinguishes them from others? Studies carried out by the Gallup Management Consulting Group over a period of 22 years have revealed the following key abilities and talents:

Attribute 1: Concluding sales negotiations

The ability to conclude sales negotiations successfully is principally the result of an amazing amount of persistence. Top salespeople do not allow themselves to be discouraged by failure. They accept that double the amount of sales negotiations means double the amount of failure.

They put up with the inevitable number of unsuccessful visits, because they have absolute faith in themselves and the product and services that they are selling.

Attribute 2: Self motivation

The reasons for top salespeople wanting to get to the top are as different as the people themselves: money; recognition; getting to know people; the desire to prove themselves; etc. The one thing they have in common, however, is that there is a fire burning in them. It is not the sales manager who has lit this fire, but it is he who controls the amount of air that fans the fire and makes sure that it is not extinguished.

This internal enthusiasm is stronger than any motivational package a sales manager can introduce and makes it possible for top sales people to attain exceptional performances.

Attribute 3: Self discipline

Clients are demanding and there is tough competition. Against this background, sustainable, long-term success is only conceivable if salespeople work in the most organised way possible.

Reliability, meeting deadlines and diligence are the cornerstones of a top salesperson’s working style. They have tailor-made many of the aids they have to help them accomplish this: forms, lists, deadline overviews, presentation portfolios.

Attribute 4: Empathy

Offensive salespeople and power sellers are indisputably successful in certain markets. Salespeople on the whole need to build up and nurture a relationship with the customer. This always entails looking at the situation from the client’s point of view and a good understanding of the client’s problems. A salesperson will only have the patience to do this if they accept the client and emphasise the things that both of them have in common.

If you have a top salesperson like this in your sales team, then it is your job to make sure that they keep their “inner” motivation as taught on all good management training courses. What is the driving force that motivates them? Four “motivational factors” and the effect these have on a sales team are mentioned in the Gallup Study:

Competition

Salespeople who are motivated by competition do not only want to win, they want to be better than their competitors. The result is they make no distinction between a sales person from a rival company and a co-worker. They are fair, however, and their performance will also inspire their sales team.

Ego drive

The ego of these top salespeople is the focal point of everything. They want to be the best and get the glory personally. Team performance means nothing to them. You can however motivate these salespeople by making them mentors for young salespeople. They are exhilarated when younger salespeople admire their expertise.

Love of success

This is the motivation that is most desirable to drum into team thinking, but unfortunately team thoughts rarely enter the head of top salespeople. Any salesperson who loves success feels motivated by the task at hand alone. If they achieve a goal, their sights are automatically set a notch higher. Colleagues’ success does not bother them, since the main thing is that the task has been accomplished. Always ensure there are enough challenges to stretch your salespeople.

Service strength

The strength of salespeople who have this inner motivation is the ability to create and build on client relationships. They are constantly on the look-out for the optimum uses for their clients. These are the ones who express with as much understanding as possible what it is the customer actually needs and then goes out of their way to accomplish this. In the sales team, this type of salesperson is often the work horse who does the less well-liked tasks, because these are the ones which are complicated and drawn out. You need to recognise the fact that your top salespeople fulfill this role.

These are the key motivators and attributes of successful sales people. Managers who hope to further develop their skills of motivating and identifying successful salespeople can attend pertinent management training courses.

Are you following a sales process? If not, you are not only wasting your time, but you are also losing sales because of it. You think you are in control but in reality you are out of control.

Have you ever been rejected? If your answer is yes, you have just proven that you are not in control of the sales process; however, the buyer is in control.

Isn’t it your job and responsibility as a sales professional to qualify the prospects and to reject them if they are not qualified?

Who is really qualifying? Who is really in control? The buyer!

Do you want to know why and how the buyer is in control? The answer is simple; buyers follow a buyers’ sales process, just like you do when meeting with a sales person. Sales people assume they are in control by answering all the questions, but in reality it is the buyer who is in control. They actually carry out the rejection, not you.

Allow me to share the buyer’s sales process with you. As a buyer, let’s pretend you know you want to buy a white shirt and your budget is $40.00. You walk into a retail outlet and the salesperson approaches you and says “Hello, can I help you?”

How do you usually respond? The common answer is “No thank you, I’m just looking”. The standard Step 1 in the buyer’s sales process is to mislead the salesperson. You essentially lie to them.

Why do you do that? Is it because they have not earned your trust yet, or because you know they will lie to you and you are just trying to stay one step ahead of them.

Step 2 in the buyer’s sales process. You find what you are looking for and call over the sales person and begin to ask relative questions. The sales person falls into your trap and you receive free consulting because they are willing to share all they know. What do you say once you have gained all the necessary information?

Step 3 in the buyer’s sales process. “Leave it with me to think it over and I will get back to you?” Standard buyer’s line in the sales process is to lie to the sales person again. Most sales people fall into this trap every time. As a sales person, has this happened to you?

Step 4 in the buyer’s sales process comes into play when the salesperson makes a follow up call and leaves a voice mail or sends an e-mail. After all, the prospect did say he would think it over and get back to them. Buyers never get back to a sales person, nor do they answer their calls or reply to voice or e-mail. Buyers simply hide.

Your job as a professional sales person is not to get trapped by the buyer’s sales process, but to have a sales process which puts you in control. You want a sales process which will allow you to quickly build rapport and to gain necessary trust.

You must set parameters in order to eliminate surprises and to establish a clear and concise process which will allow you to move forward. At the same time, you must qualify the prospect with respect to buying motivators, financial ability and decision making.

When this process is complete and everything is summarized, you will be in a position to determine if the prospect is qualified or not to allow for your time, products or services. Then and only then, you can decide to proceed with a prescription or simply walk away from the sale.

Here are seven additional factors to consider as you define the parameters that produce success in your company’s sales job. If you are a salesperson, you can also benefit from considering these questions, as they can help you identify target prospects and further refine your sales approach.

9. Administration

Which sales job functions require attention to detail? (Examples include making accurate forecasts, providing timely updates to the corporate CRM system, analyzing customer records to determine sales strategies, and ensuring regulatory compliance.)

Some companies have support personnel that perform administrative tasks on their salespeople’s behalf. Other companies expect their salespeople to deal with a certain amount of administration. If a tolerance for process, detail and administration is necessary for success in your company’s sales job, some amount of Tolerance for Administration is desirable in your salespeople.

10. Communication

How important are verbal and written communication skills to sales success in your company? Are your salespeople required to make presentations? Are they required to compose letters or proposals?

Sales roles that rely heavily on high quality verbal and written communications require salespeople that have healthy doses of the attributes Communication Skills and Reasoning Ability.

11. Pre-Sales Support

What support resources are available to help your salespeople manage specific steps of the sales cycle? How effective must your salespeople be when managing these resources?

The availability of support resources has a significant impact on the attributes required for sales success. If your salespeople have access to quality internal (employed by your company) or external (employed by suppliers or partners) technical resources, they don’t need to invest a lot of time learning technical details. This frees them to focus more time and energy on prospecting and opportunity qualification. By the same token, if your company employs technical writers who can assist salespeople with large proposals and bid responses, there may be less need for your salespeople to have strong Communication Skills.

12. Post-Sales Support

Are your salespeople expected to provide technical or operational support to customers, or do other personnel provide this support?

If your salespeople are required to deliver post-sales support, it would be desirable for them to have a lower Sales Drive, be less Competitive, and have a higher Service Drive.

13. Training

What kinds of training does your company provide to salespeople? How much training does your company provide?

Companies that provide a lot of training may have the luxury of being able to hire inexperienced sales candidates and “train them up from scratch”. This is extremely valuable in markets where highly qualified sales candidates are scarce and/or prohibitively expensive. However, if your company is going to employ this approach, you should seek candidates with strong Learning Rates.

14. Sales Manager’s Style

What are your sales managers’ styles? Do they lean in the direction of being Field Generals (who prefer selling to coaching) or Administrators (who excel at mentoring and administrative duties)?

The desired levels of the attributes Sales Drive, Service Drive, Assertiveness, Competitiveness, Independence and Tolerance for Administration will differ based upon each sales manager’s style.

15. Career Path

What is the career path for your sales position?

From small ticket item sales to big ticket item sales? From sales to management?

If your sales team is a source of candidates for other positions in your company, you may want to consider whether your salespeople and sales candidates have the attributes required to be successful in those other positions. Why? Because the attributes required to succeed in those other positions may not be the same as the attributes required for sales success!

Consider this example: Most small ticket item sales cycles are shorter than big ticket item sales cycles. Per Question #7, the desired amount of Sales Drive differs based upon the frequency of opportunities for presentation and persuasion. A successful salesperson in small ticket item sales is likely to have a strong Sales Drive. Will they become frustrated by the reduction in opportunities to present and persuade that could result from a “promotion” to big ticket item sales?

Similarly, the attributes required to be an effective manager are often quite different from the attributes required to be an effective salesperson. Success in management can require more attention to detail and the willingness to delegate and mentor. These requirements impact the target ranges for the attributes of Sales Drive, Service Drive, Assertiveness, Competitiveness, Independence and Tolerance for Administration.

If you keep the fifteen questions discussed in this two-part article in mind, you will be able to more accurately define the parameters that will lead to success in YOUR company’s sales job(s).

Copyright 2005-2008 — Alan Rigg