I recently wrote an article for the new Top Sales Experts e-book coming out next month. It is about getting people to see how a completely different way of doing something can make a positive impact. The challenge is that this is what every sales person is working towards, yet when one is on the bleeding edge and the risk is greater, they find the hill that much steeper. What the Sales Evangelist must possess are skills beyond the average sales person. What a sales champion requires to consistently add to their customer base is similar.

Here are a couple of sentences from the article, this sales person “is a word smith, can turn a phrase and deliver the perfect analogy. They have the right story for the right time, and when it is told we do not feel they are telling it for the umpteenth time. When one engages with this professional, they are swept into their passion, their desire to see things in a better light.”

In another article for Sales Gravy, I wrote about what makes a great business evangelist, and again these attributes align with those of a sales champion. The first two are obvious, but the latter are what most people take for granted or ignore:

1. The ability to listen: This must be tiresome to hear again and again, but if one is not listening, one is not selling. A champion asks this;  at the end of the sales process, do they know more about their contact than their product? If not, they did not listen enough.
2.  The fiery drive: Everyone knows that the most tenacious of people make good sales reps. What is not clear is why so many sales people either lose this drive or never had it. If they are not hungry, they are not going to be great at sales. If they are content where they are, they may make a living, but they have not reached the potential peak of performance. The champion looks from the top of the mountain they are on for a taller mountain in the skyline.
3. Ambition and ideals: So often I watch a sales team fall from greatness to mediocrity because the manager has hired a hot shot with no morals. This person hits the ground running and quickly climbs the stack rank. The problem is they do not have true ambition, they have selfish goals. They do not cling to healthy ideals and instead disrupt and divide. All to often, the manager forgives these flaws of character in exchange for the sales. Eventually others see this and either emulate or resent this behavior. Months go by and this person climbs another couple of stack ranks, cancellations and customer complaints. These too are ignored as it is justified by what is coming in. This person starts to complain more and more and takes up even more of their manager’s time. It is OK, because we feed our eagles and the time is warranted. That is, until team numbers are missed, other solid reps quit, and eventually this rep that had so much time invested in them, quits for another a better opportunity to destroy another sales team. A champion has ideals that align with their ambitions. They bring people with them to the top and show true attributes of leadership. They will help others close deals on the last day of the month, they will share what they know with their peers freely, and go out of their way to create a culture of success.
4. The quick wit: This is straight from the artice, “Someone that plans to jump into the foray and go after the opportunities in the unknown must have a quick mind. Without the ability to problem solve on the fly and the knack to develop responses to new objections, there is little hope of unearthing the barriers of introducing new ideas to the business community.  There is a fine line between pitch and evangelizing and finding those that can educate without sounding like a pushy telemarketer is paramount. ”
   This is the thing that makes superstars become champions that is near impossible to teach. Other skills come from life lessons, trainings, mentors, hard knocks, and moments of clarity. Being quick on your feet, managing your charm, telling funny stories, captivating audiences; these things are natural and rarely can be learned. Now, some people have it hiding inside of them and it can be drawn out, but if one has never spun magic with their voice it is going to be hard to become a champion.

I am sure we could come up with many more attributes and would love to hear your input. After all, one last thing that champions do is continue to perfect their craft.

When people talk about the transfer of emotion, I believe so much is lost in the explanation. Most people feel the transfer of emotion is a tactic that a sales person must employ to get people excited about things they otherwise would not buy. This is not the case, and hopefully this quick post will share with others my perception and use of the transfer of emotion. First and foremost, no matter how pragmatic a buyer, they will rarely align with purchasing something that they have negative feelings towards. If someone is willing to buy without a positive feeling, usually you do not want them as a customer.

The transfer of emotion is your ability to share your convictions with another in a manner that gets them to feel the same way. Let’s take a current case study and examine this. No matter if you like Barack Obama or not, when he speaks you feel his words. If you like his message, you are instantly taken to a place of better times. If you do not like what he says, you go to a place of disdain and rebel against his words. No matter your take, HE FORCES YOU TO TAKE A SIDE AND FEEL SOMETHING! Barack Obama would make a fantastic sales person, and some would argue that politics and sales are quite similar. Albiet, politics is a much slimier business, in both you have to get people to feel and align with what you believe. Also, in sales, much like politics, there is no reward for second place.

If you read my blog regularly, then you probably sell something you believe in. If not, quit your job and find one where you can get behind your product. Now examine what gets you excited about your offering. Now, write these things down and when it is time to gain clients, transfer that excitement and open more doors. Passion is a requirement for great sales people. Not a nice thing to have, but greatness requires passion. The ability to speak passionately is a requirement for champion salesmanship, period!

Again, I need to preface with one of my philosophies. If you have not read the last post, or had the “privilege” of sitting with me and talking sales after a couple of glasses of wine, you probably have never heard my opinion of closing. The greatest sales people are not deal closers, they are door openers. They see the first sale as a starting point, not the end, and no matter how you color it, closing has a sense of finality.

I ask all of the sales leaders reading this to think about what it takes to hunt. Prospecting is a thankless task, and finally one gets to qualify a contact extensively and uncover an opportunity. Then, to flush out the conditions of the sale, the requirements to make a difference, and the management of any possible objections. This process involves really getting to understand someone and what they are trying to accomplish. It involves become trusted and liked by that person. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DO ALL OF THAT AND THEN BE DONE?

When you are finally done proposing and you have the opportuntiy to foster a long relationship between your company and another, it is time to start planning for the marriage. Plant seeds early to get what you want, a reference and referrals. It is critical to gain access into your contacts inner circle. People tend to run with others like them. If you develop a relationships with one person in IT, they will usually gain you access to other IT professionals. If they are trusted in their circle, you are welcomed by implied reputation. This can be even stronger within a company. Here the results can help you gain access. Doing a good job in one department can often gain you access to another. It can also make it easier to up sell or cross sell as the opportunity permits.

So, what do you do if you are not closing? The answer is easy, but takes some dedication. This is well worth the effort, since every customer you do this with can equal hundreds and hundreds of cold calls. Call them and thank them a day or two after the sale. Follow up via e-mail weekly, and remember those little news articles and tips you found and shared as you were cultivating the lead? Do not stop sending them. Call monthly and ask what benefits they are seeing. If they do not know, find out and take that data and develop a study. People appreciate these things, and once the data is confirmed, they will not only let you share it, but help you find people in their network to share it with. If this sounds hard, guess what while the answer is easy, at first doing this well is challenging. Like everything else however, it becomes second nature after time. Nothing, and I mean nothing, helps endorse a sale more than a colleague telling you why you have to do something NOW!