When you get stuck in a rut it can reflect in your performance. As a salesperson showing your discontent or disappointment in life is a defeatist attitude that just won’t do. Move away from your comfort zone to increase your sales.

Raise the Bar

Just because you have a minimum sales quota to reach doesn’t mean that is all you should set your sights on. Think big and raise the bar on your own. You might have a minimum but you can be certain there is no maximum. Raise the bar and watch yourself excel.

Become Fully Engaged

If you are putzing through life doing the bare minimum you will get back the bare minimum. Apply yourself and become completely engaged with your job and your clients. Stay on top of your game and know all you can about your competitors. Use this information to a) demonstrate your knowledge and b) have some information prepared about what you have the competitors don’t. Don’t bad mouth or even mention the competitors, just use your knowledge to bring your better qualifications to light.

Experience Discomfort

This is not in everybody’s make up which explains why most of us are not billionaires. A comfort zone sounds cosy, but it can also be a bit of a prison. It is like living in a beautiful home and feeling you never need to visit anywhere else. It stifles and it deadens your desire to succeed. Staying with the same company, selling the same things and knocking on the same doors are all enemies of the salesperson.

LOL in the Face of Fear

Fear can stem from many different aspects of life. Some fears are deeply rooted and quite frankly well warranted. However fear of failure, or worse, fear of success will hold you back from experiencing true fulfillment in life. If you are too afraid to take a night course to learn better sales strategies because you don’t want to go alone, sign up and do it. Ha Ha to fear. If you are too afraid to apply for that Sales Managers job because you might get rejected, type up that resume and leave it on your boss’ desk. Tee Hee to fear.

Your comfort zone is also your prison. Breaking out of it is your best bet for success.

One-On-One Sales Coaching

There are some basic traits of an outstanding salesperson that all great salespeople have. If you have these traits, then sales might just be your niche.

They Have a Positive Attitude.

Successful sales professionals always present their solutions with positivity. A positive vibe can create confidence and trust in a person the product or service they are selling.

They are Personable.

You will get nowhere in sales if you can’t strike up a conversation with another human being. The person who can grab attention, maintain a conversation, and make the other person feel like all their attention is being given directly to them is a real salesperson. Fulfilling the need of every person to be heard is what makes great salesmen. Your customer wants to know that they matter to someone else. If you are a smart salesperson, you will be that someone else. And the sale is yours.

An outstanding salesperson communicates clearly.

You might only have two minutes to pitch your sale to your potential customer. Are you going to blow it rambling on about something that may or may not matter? If you can’t communicate clearly then you have already lost your sale.

They are Honest.

Being able to communicate and being personable will never help you if you can’t be trusted. If a customer comes to you with a complaint, they should feel reassured that you are handling the problem, and they can count on you to get the job done. In addition to that, if you are selling a product or a service then you need to be able to stand behind that product or service. If you can’t, your ability to sell will suffer tremendously.

They are Convincing.

You have to be able to show your customer why your product or service is superior to other products or services. Or you have to show that your product or service is going to help them in some way and they should not live without it. This motivates your customers to not only buy from you, but to keep buying from you.

They are knowledgeable and informative.

There should not be an answer that you do not know. If a customer wants to know where the part number 11,342,051 was made, then you need to know exactly where that part was made and preferably the workers name who made it. Now this is an extreme example, but this is the mark of an outstanding salesperson.

Keep the above in mind when you are looking for your next outstanding sales rep. Also, consider consulting a Sales Recruiting firm who are specialists at finding people with traits of an outstanding salesperson and presenting them as finalized candidates.

Working in sales can be brutal. The hours are long, and sales reps may be frustrated if their performance isn’t up to par. The one thing that can improve any sales professional’s performance is an Ipad. An Ipad will give them the convenience they need, to get their job done effectively and efficiently. Below are 5 of the best ways to utilize an Ipad or tablet to be effective in sales.

Presentations and Meetings

When you are demonstrating your products, it can be really convenient to have key points of your presentation on the Ipad. When a customer wants information or product photos, you will be able to show them with ease if you have an Ipad handy. The screen is large enough that they won’t have to squint, and this is a really convenient way to have all of your product information at your fingertips. An Ipad is especially useful if you are out in people’s homes selling, or if you are away from your office.

Taking Notes

The Ipad has a lot of convenient features and apps that make note taking a breeze. It is important to take notes about your prospective buyer, so that you will remember them in the future, and know what their preferences are, or what they are looking for. You can document things easily with an Ipad note taking app, and you will be able to download the notes to your office computer when you return to the office. An Ipad will help to keep you organized. Using an iPad saves a lot more time and will create more concise notes as opposed to a paper and pen, which can get messy and can be easily lost or misplaced.

Social Media Tools

Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, and LinkedIn apps can all be easily accessed from an Ipad, no matter where you are. Social media tools are vital in sales, because the bulk of a company’s business may come from these platforms. Sales professionals need to check these sites frequently. If sales professionals want to monitor their social media pages, they can use their Ipad to run enterprise solutions, such as Radian 6, to know what is being said about them instantly. Monitoring is important if you want to be effective in sales.

Conferencing

Sales professionals lead busy lives. A conferencing app on their Ipad will allow them to easily see what meetings are scheduled, follow tweets, see presentation slides, and enter notes about meetings or events. Staying organized is essential. These apps are really effective in helping sales professionals to improve their performances.

Calculators

Even though a calculator may not seem like a great feature, it is! When you are pitching your products to prospective customers, and they want to know pricing options, taxes, financing options, prices with interest rates, or other related financial information, you will need the ability to calculate things fast. Their time is valuable, and so is yours, so don’t waste it! An Ipad calculator is one of the most convenient tools that a sales representative can have.

The above ways are just a few of the ways that an Ipad can benefit sales professionals to make them more effective in sales. There are thousands of apps on the market, so they can be as effective as they take the initiative to be. An Ipad is worth its weight in gold to a sales professional that uses it correctly.

Sometimes it seems like you just can’t catch a break. No matter how hard you work, how well you pitch your product, you simply can’t generate a sale. You can’t let this rut frighten or discourage you. What you need to do is take a deep breath and turn to Thomas Edison and look at his creative process. When you do so, you’ll learn whole new ways to sell more creatively and hone your creative skills, using them to help you generate more sales.

Edison knew how to listen. Part of this was because he was genuinely interested in people and enjoyed hearing their stories. Another reason he was such an astute listener was because he learned that by listening to others, it would often trigger an idea. By listening to the stories your prospective clients tell, you just might pick up on something that will help you quickly create a pitch that’s bound to work. A genuine personality and respect will get you further in the conversations with clients.

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Edison had fantastic people skills. It didn’t matter if he was with someone one on one, or if he was hanging out with a group of talented individuals, he knew how to connect with everyone he met. You can do the same thing. The next time you’re with a group of people take a few moments to observe them. At this point you should assume the role of the leader. Make it a point to draw each person into the group and identify the unique talents they’re contribution ads. You’re going to find this trait makes you stand out from your associates, putting you in a position to take on bigger accounts.

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In addition to acknowledging the talents of your other sales associates, you need to be willing to take a step back and let them shine once in a while. For example if you have an account you can’t seem to connect with, see if someone else might be better suited for the task. After all you’re supposed to be working as a team.

The next time you meet someone force yourself to keep an open mind. Assume nothing. This was a skill Edison used to his advantage. By not making assumptions your body language won’t accidentally tell a potential customer anything that could cause them to want to take their money elsewhere.

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A last piece of advice is to always try to be as humble as possible when you are out on a sales call. Read a book or two about body language and mannerisms. This investment will pay dividends!

Related Article: Stop Pitching & Start Solving Client Problems

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