Ten Steps to Jump-Start Your Sales Career

By Barbara K. Mednick

Are you looking to jump-start your sales career, achieve your goals and improve your close ratio in 2007? If so, here are the top ten tips from two local sales experts who can help you meet and exceed your goals.

Tips from Jason Kleid

1. “Remember the first rule of communication: people prefer talking to listening. We communicate we care not by talking about how great our products or services are, but by being a great listener,” says Jason Kleid, a Twin Cities executive coach/sales strategist/trainer.
2. “Secondly, understand what is keeping your customers or prospects up at night. Listen for their opinions, likes, dislikes, concerns and what they value. This is important because people buy for their reasons, not yours. If you want to jump-start your 2007 sales career and become a great salesperson, become a great listener,” he advises.

Here are his other tips:

1. Position yourself to listen by asking good open-ended questions.
2. Communicate your understanding of the prospect/customer’s needs – “Remember, people buy from people they like.”
3. Understand yourself, understand others and learn how to adapt and blend your style for greater, more effective communication and relationships -“Remember, you do not sell a product or service – you influence people!” he explains.
4. Learn how your clients and prospects think – “What keeps them up at night? What types of challenges are they dealing with every day? What are they looking for in a salesperson, company, product and service, etc.? If you truly understand them, then you’ll be asking the right questions. Read what they read. Go to the same seminars. Take them to lunch and pick their brain,” he says.
5. Write a business plan – put your thoughts in writing and not just in your head.
6. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time sensitive.
7. Sell something you believe in – “If you believe, your prospects will believe,” he says. “But, if you don’t believe, your prospects won’t either.”
8. Get a coach or mentor – “Find someone to hold you accountable to your goals and you will find you will be achieving your dreams,” advises Kleid.