Resources & Blog
Patti Briggs
Posted: Monday, December 19, 2011
Sales - More Than Simply A Job Title
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
I am called a salesperson because I am a person that sells…no surprise there! Sales are the results that I achieve and the value that I add to the retirement communities where I work. To me, it is not simply a job title.
As a frontline salesperson, I am always excited to learn new sales tips and benefit from the advice of others. By attending seminars, reading industry-related material, and practicing what I learn, I strive continually to better my sales performance. After many years of selling retirement housing, especially CCRCs from Florida to Seattle, I’ve found that there doesn’t seem to be any new fabulous sales techniques, just the same suggestions, described in countless ways. Although the sales tools may appear to be the same, each prospect that walks in the door has a personal story; each one that I call or meet with has his or her hopes for the future.
It has been said that salespeople only have about twenty seconds to make a first impression. So, be nice. Always. Niceness cannot be overrated. Be happy. Smile. Humor is a great means to diffuse tension and make each prospect comfortable from the beginning. An appropriate laugh is always helpful.
The Buddhists seem to live their lives in harmony and balance. They maintain a philosophy that involves the practice of deep listening, being present in the moment, and empathy. To me, these three practices describe the attributes of a successful salesperson. The ability to have present-focused awareness with the prospects and practice empathic listening regarding their particular situations is what creates a good sales appointment.
Regardless of the community’s lead-base program, regardless of the number of leads in the database available to work, and regardless of the community problems that need to be addressed, the number one characteristic that I find necessary to be successful in sales is likeability. In order to develop rapport and gain trust quickly, a salesperson has to be likeable. By putting myself in the moment and listening empathically, I find it unusual for a prospect not to respond positively and like me. Then trust tends to develop. If we are experiencing a less-than-stellar day, for whatever reasons, we have to put our personal problems aside and rise positively to the occasion, over and over.
Successful sales people strive for balance in their jobs. Selling has been described as an art as well as a science, thus requiring both sides of the brain; the right side for intuitiveness and creativity and the left for logic and analytical thinking. Although everyone uses both sides of their brain to some extent, most have one side that is predominant. The art and science of sales require both, and that sometimes presents a challenge. Analytical engineers and accountants, for instance, tend to be left -brained while artists and many entrepreneurs are right-brained. As knowledgeable salespeople, we need to know how to communicate appropriately with both. Sometimes that is not an easy task. Perhaps that explains why there always seems to be a shortage of great sales people!