Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

To Be a True Salesperson, You Have to Make the Sale

Are you closing that sale? Do you have what it takes to book that order? Do you have enough confidence in your product to think that you are doing your customer a huge favor by letting him buy from you?

Not to get too obvious here, but salespeople sell; that is what you’re supposed to do if you’re a salesperson, right? Oh, I know all about the consultative sale, and I practically invented relationship management; all of those things are very important. But they are merely a subset of the most important action of all: selling. Do you have the ability to get the buyer to commit to buy things from you? Are you really able to do that?

I wish that were a stupid question. I wish that I could hear you say, “Of course salespeople sell, thank you for that, Captain Obvious.” But alas, I can’t, because many of the salespeople I talk to today will do anything but sell. They will take a meeting with a customer, have long meandering talks with that customer and then never get around to asking for that damn order. For these guys, asking for the order is about the same as asking the buyer for a personal loan. It is just not in their bailiwick to be able to come right out and ask for that order. Why not? I believe it boils down to not only a lack of confidence in their products, but lack of confidence in themselves as well.

Now, be honest…do you see yourself anywhere here? Does this sound a lot like you? Or does it sound a lot like some of your salespeople? Well, here are 10 characteristics of a true salesperson. Read them, think about them, absorb them, and take them on. And if you take them on with the conviction of a winner, with the confidence of a guy who is giving his customer such a great opportunity that he feels like he is doing him a favor, you will be a true salesperson.

Are you a true salesperson?

• A true salesperson is always closing.
• A true salesperson is always driving the conversation to a sale.
• A true salesperson never apologizes for his product, but talks about it like it is the greatest product in the world.
• A true salesperson never stops at objections and barriers; instead, the salesperson treats them like a lion treats a hunk of meat. He just eats them.
• A true salesperson is not afraid to be a salesperson, because that is what she is and she is proud of it.
• A true salesperson is never afraid to brag about his company and product. He knows it is the very best product out there and he is just the salesperson with the right professional expertise to sell it
• A true salesperson knows when to shut up and listen. He knows when to ask the right questions at the right time. And, like a great lawyer, he only asks questions that he already knows the answer to—questions that will lead down a path right up to the final sale.
• A true salesperson studies her craft. She reads books, goes to seminars, watches videos, listens to tapes, and does everything within her power to be the best she can be.
• A true salesperson never makes excuses, but instead always finds a way to eliminate them.
• A true salesperson is ready for every objection. He has heard them all before. In fact, he looks for them, and even collects them. He comes up with all of the right answers needed to convince the customer that those are not barriers but merely hurdles on the way to the sale.
• The true salesperson is always prepared. He’s more prepared than any Boy Scout you will ever meet.
• To a true salesperson, this is a career, not just a job. It’s a career to be honed and burnished until it has been perfected.
• A true salesperson finds a way to do business with a customer. No matter what the customer says at first, he never cut him off by saying “We don’t do that.” Instead the true salesperson starts an exploratory conversation with the customer to find out what her needs truly are and see if there is a way he can meet those needs.
• A true salesperson believes in his product completely to the point where he feels the customer is missing out by not buying from him.
• A true salesperson is proud of his profession, his product, his company and himself. There is no shame in selling.
• A true salesperson loves asking for the order. To her, this is the climax of the sales call. This is what it is all about. Not only does she feel no shame in asking of for the order, but she delights in it. To her, asking for the order is tantamount to being on a great adventure. She has done her homework. The buyer is eating out of her hand and now she springs and makes it happen with the confidence that she is turning today into the luckiest day of the buyer’s life.  She has the right solution that the buyer needs, and she is selling it with all the extreme prejudice she can muster.

That’s right. At the end of the day, a true salesperson is never afraid to ask for that order. He is already ready for that moment when it is time to close that sale. He is ready with pen in hand and with a vow of momentary silence waiting with great anticipation for that buyer, armed with the information he has provided, to make the right choice.

As Alec Baldwin put it in Glengarry Glen Ross, “Get them to sign on the line which is dotted.”

It’s only common sense.