There are a lot of things in the current business climate that can make sales a cold, heartless, and unhealthy career choice. In such an environment, it is important to not only focus on what can make someone a successful salesperson, but what will give them a healthy sales career.

In this context, a healthy sales career refers to not only being successful, but also admirable. It means that you’re able to be successful through honest and sustainable means, while being willing to do right by others, including both your coworkers and clients.

This is opposed to an unhealthy sales career where you try to achieve success by any means necessary while not caring about those around you. Sometimes the latter seems more appealing, as it’s quick and easy but eventually, it will kill your sales career.

However, if you’re willing to strive for a healthy sales career, not only will you become more successful in the long run, but your career will also be more fulfilling. Read on to learn the aspects you must focus on for a healthy sales career.

Honesty

The first and arguably one of the most foundational aspects of a healthy sales career is honesty. It can be very tempting for a salesperson to fudge the truth a little bit to get a sale or to get an edge over a coworker. However, if you have a shaky foundation by being dishonest, those cracks will start to grow. Little white lies could eventually cascade into blatant ones. A car salesperson may lie at first about a couple imperfections, but that dishonesty can eventually turn into selling cars with faulty and cheap parts, claiming it’s in prime condition.

This also applies to unethical and shady practices, such as manipulation, bribery, corner-cutting, etc. While they aren’t technically lying, they are still doing deceitful and immoral things to take advantage of someone else, whether it be the client or their coworkers. Of course, all of this can only go so far. It is only a matter of time before they’re caught in their lies, which will destroy their reputation, could get them fired or in legal trouble, and will ultimately lose them all of the trust they’ve accumulated.

And that is the keyword here, trust. As a salesperson, it is extremely important for you to earn the trust of your clients and your coworkers. Being honest doesn’t just mean not lying, it means being trustworthy. This means being dependable, doing the things you say you’re going to do, and having integrity, doing the right thing even if it’s inconvenient or even detrimental. Doing things this way may not be quick or easy and could cost you in the short run. However, being honest will allow your clients to trust you. They will come back to you for your reliable services, benefiting you in the long run.

Empathy

Business can be incredibly cold and ruthless, that doesn’t mean you have to be. It’s an unfortunate reality that a lot of businesses get where they are because of being practical and not caring how their actions will affect others. This can lead to a Darwinian mindset of survival of the fittest and while that can lead to success, very rarely does that create a healthy sales career. Often those who fall in this trap will eventually fall and will have nobody to turn to.

Thus, it is important to be empathetic on your sales journey. Being empathetic means that you’re thinking of others before yourself. For your clients, you listen to them about their problems and think about how you can best serve their needs. You’re showing that you care about their situation and that they are your top priority over their money. This not only can get people to like you, but they will want to do business with you again, because they feel heard.

This also applies to your relationship with your coworkers. While sales is a very competitive field and sometimes some will do better than others, that doesn’t mean you should treat people poorly and not care about their situation. You should be building other people up, collaborating with them and sometimes leading them to help push the team forward, while not stepping on anyone’s toes. Being empathetic and helping others will not only further build up trust but will open you up to be helped when you need it.

Commitment

Let’s say your sales career is a car. If success is the destination, honesty is the frame and empathy was the engine, then commitment is the fuel. In the end, even if you have every other positive trait in the back of your mind, it is your commitment to your career and your drive to succeed which will push you furthest.

Thomas Edison once said: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Even if your sales endeavors don’t lead you to immediate success or even if you catastrophically fail, it’s important to push yourself, no matter how difficult it gets. While empathy and honesty will allow you to have a healthy sales career, your commitment to those ideals and to your success will keep it alive.

A salesperson who does not value their clients is doomed to fail. A common pitfall for many fledgling salespeople – and sometimes overconfident veteran sales professionals– is to become too self-centered.

They only think about what will move them forward in their career, rather than what will help their client the most. This approach will make clients feel like an afterthought and unlikely to seek out your services in the future.

During the world’s current, post-pandemic, economic situation, with the possibility of a recession, businesses must be more frugal. This means salespeople who fail to provide value to their customers will be left out in the cold. To truly become successful as a salesperson, you must show your clients you value them as well as whatever it is you are trying to sell them.

This can be achieved by using the V.A.L.U.E method. This method involves using a checklist of things that you can provide to a client. Here are the five things you need to do to ensure you are providing your clients with something of value:

Validate Your Client’s Problems

When talking to a client about the problem they are facing, do not treat it like it is not important. If you come across as apathetic or worse, annoyed, and hostile that they even brought it up, they will be far less receptive to what you have to say. It shows you only care about what they can give you and that you do not care about them or their problems. If I’s important enough to them that they are trying to fix it, it should be a top priority for you, too.

Show that you care about them and their problems by conducting some research beforehand and then listening to them talk about the challenges their business is facing. Listening, knowing enough about the problem to respond in an educated way, and validating that their problem is important and will go a long way to instilling trust in you.

Articulate Your Solution’s Value

One of the most common pitfalls for any growing business is not having any concrete goals and plans to work towards. However, as outlined by George T. Doran in an old article he wrote for Management Review: “There’s a SMART way to write management goals and objectives.” He then proceeded to break down what SMART goals are; that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.

This strategy has been used by many goal-oriented people – from entrepreneurs to athletes – ever since. The point of this strategy is to make sure your goals are as well-defined as possible, so that you know exactly how and what you need to do to achieve them. It also gives you a plan that is easy to evaluate, allows you to easily tweak it, and ensures that everybody is on the same page.

Learn About Your Client

Before you even start constructing your pitch to your client, do your homework. Learn about the company, its history, its decision-makers, and the problems that they are facing. You can find a lot of this information from websites and from coworkers who may have knowledge of the company. Knowing this information will give you a significant edge when you pitch to them. Never go in blind and try to wing it. Perhaps you’re the smoothest talker on the planet but that’s not going to help you if your customer or client has a very specific problem, and you don’t know anything about it.

In 1973, Peter Drucker, a famous Austrian-American management consultant said: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well, the product or service sells itself.”

The same way of thinking applies to sales, as marketing and sales pitching are somewhat linked. If you know enough about them and show how your solution can solve their problem, you’ll be far more likely to succeed.

Understand Your Competition

The phrase “know your enemy” applies to sales just as much as it does war and politics. Knowing how your competition is trying to solve the same problems you are will give you an idea of how to make yourself stand out. You may be able to do things that your competition can’t or simply be better at it than they are. Show your client that your service will be able to do things that the competition can’t or won’t do.

Execute With Excellence

Finally, show that you value your clients by doing everything in your power to provide them with the best service possible. Do your best to make sure the product or service you deliver is high quality. If shipping is involved, make sure it reaches them in a timely manner. Be professional and polite, answer whatever questions they may have, and be the best salesperson you can be by showing them you truly value their time.

In today’s oversaturated marketplace, businesses are always looking for strategic approaches to boost revenues. One such method is sales scaling, which means increasing the scale of your sales team’s results without necessarily adding more members.

Knowing both how and when to do so might be the difference between your business growing or failing. If you do know how to grow sales, your business could get left behind and fail to meet customer expectations. Here are four common strategies for scaling sales that you can integrate into your sales playbook:

Rethink Your Existing Methods

It can be a difficult pill to swallow for business owners to accept that a once effective sales approach is no longer viable. What worked once upon a time won’t necessarily work forever. In fact, old strategies can even become so stale, they turn potential customers off. If you’re unwilling to adapt to new strategies, there’s a very good chance your company will pay a heavy price in the long run.

Thankfully, you don’t always need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and start over. Sometimes, all those old tried and true methods need is a bit of updating. Find ways to fine-tune your existing sales strategies, but to tweak obsolete practices to better serve the needs of your current customers.

Use SMART Goals

One of the most common pitfalls for any growing business is not having any concrete goals and plans to work towards. However, as outlined by George T. Doran in an old article he wrote for Management Review: “There’s a SMART way to write management goals and objectives.” He then proceeded to break down what SMART goals are; that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.

This strategy has been used by many goal-oriented people – from entrepreneurs to athletes – ever since. The point of this strategy is to make sure your goals are as well-defined as possible, so that you know exactly how and what you need to do to achieve them. It also gives you a plan that is easy to evaluate, allows you to easily tweak it, and ensures that everybody is on the same page.

Focus on Customer Retention Strategies

The pursuit of new customers is always a wise practice for any business. But if you ignore your existing clientele, you could be hurting your business rather than helping it to expand. Rather than spending hundreds on advertising for new customers, a business should focus on satisfying its existing clientele because those clients are more likely to buy from a company they know and appreciate.

Thus, you should figure out and understand your demographic and what your customers both want and expect from you. Then you should do everything in your power to cater to their needs, which includes giving them what they want and fixing what they don’t want. There are more people in your chosen demographic than you think and if people in those groups like you, word will spread, and you will get new prospects.

That said, there is nothing wrong with branching out either. You could find ways to cater to multiple demographics and still be successful. Just remember to never neglect your current group or your attempts to branch out will be more likely to crash and burn.

Check Your Stats Regularly

Your attempts at scaling sales will be all for nothing if you’re not willing to keep track of your metrics and the revenue you are making. Scaling a business means preparing for future expansion. If you want your business to thrive, you need to pay attention to how lead generation, conversions, and other metrics are impacted by any changes you make.

If they are shrinking, then maybe you’re taking too big of a gamble and your company doesn’t have the resources to properly grow yet. If they are staying the same, then maybe you should push a little further or scale back a little to see what will make a difference. And of course, if it’s growing, then you know you’re going in the right direction.

 
Imagine your part of a group of runners, training to run a marathon relay. The event is just a few away and you’ve been meeting regularly to prepare for it. However, as you meet and watch each other train, you begin to find fault in each other’s forms and methods.

Perhaps it’s poor form or substandard equipment. Maybe it’s bad nutrition or hydration habits. There are any number of things that you or the rest of the group could start finding fault with.

It’s important to find a way to bring these things up constructively so everyone can work together to make the entire team perform better. Teams that can’t create a supportive environment of truth are unlikely to eliminate bad habits and will undoubtedly underperform no matter how hard they work as individuals.

The same principle applies to sales training. Fledgling salespeople are often riddled with little flaws that can – if left uncorrected – hinder their success in the long run. To offset this, businesses often spend significant amounts of money on sales training for their employees.

However, they often overlook other issues that are preventing their sales teams from truly optimizing their performance. By disregarding these shortcomings, a sales team will struggle to reach its true potential and can start causing major issues for the company. Here are four issues that may hurt your company, if they are not nipped in the bud:

Customer Dissatisfaction

Many newly trained salespeople will want to jump into making calls and sales right away. However, those clients will be the first to experience the effects of your sales training, especially the negative ones. With many of their methods unrefined and their flaws on full display, said flaws will seep through into their sales pitches and clients will feel the full brunt of it.

For example, a salesperson may not use the appropriate selling strategies while presenting their products to clients, which can leave the client confused and unconvinced. They may not take the time to consider the customers’ concerns and treat them like they’re just a number, which may leave the client unheard. Clients are what keep a company afloat and if they aren’t able to train their sales team properly, those connected may be severed. Successful training programs will teach how to talk to their customers and to always be considerate of their client and their needs.

High Turnover Rates

Soon, if these issues aren’t resolved, it could result in either a lot of new salespeople being fired, or they will be expected to do more because of the lack of sales and will eventually quit. In the former, you don’t want to spend so much time on a new employee, only to have to fire time, flushing all that effort down the drain.

The latter is arguably worse since it creates a hostile and toxic work environment. In their higher amount of pressure, their flows may become even worse, leading to even more mistakes and possibly even worse sales. It could also lead to intense burnout and eventually low employee retention rates. Your current employees would likely quit, and your company would have difficulty finding new ones, since it’s developed a reputation.

Quality sales training will allow your sales team to know what they are doing and allow them to work effectively. You wouldn’t have to fire anyone or push them so hard that they quit and prevent anyone from wanting to work with you.

Unreachable Goals

In the long run, the flaws in your sales team and your sales program will prevent you from reaching your loftier goals. Poor sales training won’t give them the tools they need to do their job properly in the first place and those little things build up. If your team is constantly making those little mistakes, they will hold you back from building up to those goals in the long run. The plan to reach a goal is like a pyramid, where you’re building a foundation of decisions that build up to a bigger decision on top. If your foundation is a pile of broken glass, you won’t be able to take any steps toward that goal and will be forced to clean up your mess and/or start over.

Lingering Issues

Finally, if you’re not willing to change your sales training strategy for the better, those same issues that plagued you in the beginning will haunt you for the rest of your career. If you’re not willing to fix the problems with your training, different people will make the same mistakes over and over again for years to come.

This especially applies if you’re not willing to keep your program updated with new technology and methods. Companies that refuse to change will be left in dust by their competitors that have embraced the new and improved sales strategies supplied through sales training. If a sales team is reluctant to confront whatever narrow-mindedness they may have, it will all be for nothing.

It can be incredibly difficult to convince a client of anything, especially of something you’re selling. Every salesperson has had a situation where they’ve lost a client and it is never enjoyable. That said, there are many ways to save the sale if you feel it slipping through your fingers. Here are five easy strategies to prevent your transaction from falling through.

1. Understand the Product and the Customer

Your job as a salesperson is to understand what your product is and why some people would want or need it, then be able to demonstrate that to others. If you feel that you’re not convincing someone, try to understand why they would want your product. Ask them questions and show them how your product can solve their problem. Revolving your pitch around a solution to a need they present will make it more likely to succeed. Additionally, show how your product stands out from the competition, whether it’s because it’s a higher quality or it fills a niche that other brands don’t.

2. Negotiate a Better Deal

Sometimes the deal you’re initially offering isn’t within the right price range for a client, or they may not be unsure that your product is worth the amount you’re asking for. In which case, if you’re in a position to do so, try to negotiate price with them. A simple “let me see what I can do for you” can make a customer feel valued and demonstrates that you’re reasonable and care about saving them money. Being willing to negotiate the price, even if you ultimately decide on the previous price, may be enough to convince the buyer. However, don’t be desperate or a pushover. A negotiation should be an equal footing back and forth, eventually settling on a price you’re both happy with. Even so, if the client isn’t argumentative about it, a modest discount can go a long way.

3. Suggest an Alternative

If your client isn’t convinced of what you’re selling, consider introducing an alternative, one that may be better suited for what they need or their budget. Doing this gives you another shot at selling something to them and allows you to refresh and go from a different angle, one more tailored to their needs. Additionally, doing this shows that you’re willing to adapt to their needs and that you’re actually listening. It may also give them more time to consider the previous product or they may ask what else you have, holding their attention for longer.

4. Don’t Rush Them

If you try to rush your client, they may suddenly lose interest. Most people need time to think through and be confident in their decision. Rushing them not only messes with their thought process but will make you come across as either desperate or inconsiderate, both of which making them not want to trust you or your product. Give them the time they need to make up their mind, after you’ve provided them with all the relevant information. Doing this will make it more likely to make the sale and will show that you’re confident in your product.

If they need more time, let them. Sometimes they may need to speak with their spouse or go through their finances. Be patient and allow them to step back and even come back. You can offer to hold onto their product for a couple days while they decide or provide them with the contact information to reach you when they’ve made their decision. While they may still say no, your considerate behavior will make it more likely to go back to you when they’re ready.

5. Have a ‘Real’ Conversation

Dropping the pretenses and having a “real” conversation with your client about your product can create a more candid environment and can be done in a variety of ways. You can tell them about your own experiences with the product. You can ask more in-depth questions and allow them to open up a little. This can be done by just being honest with them, which can be a little scary, especially if you risk undermining the viability of your product. But even so, your honesty will be appreciated, respected, and show you care more about their needs than their money. Clients who are honest and have a genuine faith in their product will be one more thing to convince a client.