There’s no single formula that turns a salesperson into a successful sales professional. What is common among the best sales professionals, however, is their ability to combine proven sales strategies with their own strengths to produce an individual selling style that is effective in their market.
Because selling is such an individualized thing, I am a big fan of self-help books. They allow you to apply proven techniques to the framework of your own life and your own target market. One of my favorite self-help books is Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy, by Steve W. Martin. I highly recommend reading this book and doing the exercises.
Here’s a summary from Amazon:
“The best salespeople are those ‘Heavy Hitters’ who are able to use human nature, language, and intuition to build trusting relationships with customers and persuade them to buy. Based on his proven and effective sales program, author Steve Martin explains how you too can achieve and maintain that high level of sales success. Using real-world case studies, examples, and exercises, Martin provides the psychological, physical, and language-based tactics you need to turn yourself into a Heavy Hitter.
“Inside, you'll find proven guidance and expert tips on:
* Understanding how people think and communicate.
* Finding the right words at the right time.
* Predicting a customer's behavior and influencing his thoughts.
* Building customer rapport and understanding their motivations.
* Persuading both the customer's rational mind and his emotional subconscious side.”
