The qualities below are those that make up a great salesperson. You could have some of them in-born but very often you will need to build most of them. They are:
1. Prepared Always
To be a great salesman or woman, you must be ready at all times, to make a sale. Great salespeople are never taken unprepared. As soon as someone shows up with an interest on their product, they are ready to begin the sales process. Last few months, I wanted to get a pair of snicker tennis. I came across a shoe stand and stood there for many minutes, asking who was selling the shoes. No one showed up. When I was about leaving, a lady stood across the road and asked me what I wanted? Of course I did not even answer her, but left.
Being prepared is about mastering your product and your method of sales. Once you know all that is important to know about your product, and have mastered the necessary steps in making a sale, you are prepared. Make sure opportunity does not meet you unprepared.
2. Knowledgeable
A great salesperson is well informed and has sound knowledge of whatever he/she is selling. Having sound knowledge of your product gives you so much credibility before your buyer. The knowledge you hold about the product should range from what it is, what it is made up of, who made it, what it is used for, how it is use, precautions for usage, etc. to your experiences and other people’s experiences with the product(positive and negative), and shortcomings of the product, if any. Every great salesman has sound knowledge of what he is selling.
3. Smart & Sharp
Salesmanship is for people who are smart and sharp. A great salesman is smart and sharp, both physically and mentally. You should be smart in detecting who to approach, in approaching them, in studying the buyer, in convincing him/her, in making a logical argument, in negotiation, in doing all the mental arithmetic related to the sale, in serving the buyer with the product, and so on. The opposite of being smart and sharp is being dull and lazy. Which one are you?
4. Truthful & Honest
Most salespersons try to convince their buyers by being dishonest. This is poor. Honesty is an essential quality of a great salesperson. People who get your product will feel more secured to come back again when they realize you were honest with them. On the other hand they will feel cheated and loss confidence in you, if they realize you were dishonest with them. To ensure that you don’t get tempted to be dishonest, make sure you don’t sell anything that is not good.
5. Friendly
Everyone loves friendly places and people. The reason is that it makes them feel more comfortable and free to express themselves. The market place is supposed to be a friendly place. That is the way most buyers see it. And so, when they come to you, they are hoping to meet someone who will make them smile, feel free and relax. Therefore, being able to make a buyer smile will be a serious plus on to your sale.
I remember many years ago when I use to sell poultry birds during Christmas. One of the buyers told me she just could not resist buying from me when I spoke the way I spoke. She said I was a nice little boy and she would encourage me. Others said the same thing through the smiles that radiated from their faces as I cracked jokes and made fun. Be friendly.
6. Polite & Respectful
The worst place to be rude is in the market place, especially to a customer. A great salesperson is polite and respectful. This quality will be tested often as disgruntled buyers come to the market daily. Some come with the stress of making the money and others with the thoughts of high prices. When they come, the worst thing that can happen is that they meet a rude salesperson trying to convince them to get their product. It never works.
You will never have a just reason for being rude or disrespectful to a customer. A great salesperson is someone with good mastery over his emotions and so polite, soft-spoken and generally respectful.
7. Keen Listener
A great salesperson is not one who knows how to talk so well but one who knows how to listen so well, talk right and talk well. Listening is an important art which any salesperson must master. If you learn to listen with rapt interest in whoever is talking and whatever he/she is saying, you will always win people’s heart and by so doing win their pocket. In fact when you listen keenly to the buyer, you will easily pick up concerns, worries, misconceptions, etc. that will lead you in convincing the buyer to get the product.
8. Focused
A great salesman does not lose sight of his goal. His goal is to ensure that the buyer gets the product at the end. How to do this is to make the buyer see just how important the product is, to him. A great salesperson never loses sight of this.
Even as he takes time to listen and share in the buyer’s concerns, his mind is always on his goal. Everything he does or pretends to do, is to see that he accomplishes that goal. He is focused.
9. Patient
Patience is a rare virtue in life. But a great salesperson must learn to be patient. You need to apply patience when you try to convince someone to buy your product. Some people take a longer time to make a decision while others easily do so. However, some of those who take a longer time to make a decision are the best customers you may end up making. Be patient even when the buyer ends up not buying. If you are, he/she could eventually come back to you.
10. Open to Learn
A great salesperson is one who sees every meeting with a buyer, as an opportunity to learn. He is a never-know-all person. He recognizes that even as the buyers use the product more, their knowledge of it could be more founded than his. And so he makes maximum use of the opportunity, to learn more about the product from his buyers and his improved knowledge makes him a better sales person.
The above ten qualities are very crucial for anyone who wants to be great at selling. You can use them to evaluate and strengthen yourself in order to improve on your sales.
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By Kadzem Claude
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