7 Secrets Every Salesperson Should Know

It seems like everywhere you turn these days someone is claiming that they have the winning formula for sales success. There are definitely lots of things you can learn to become a better salesperson, and using new tools like Spiro can help you get there, but the fundamentals of sales don’t change all that much despite trends in technology and human behavior.

Every salesperson who commits to the profession and is planning on a long-term career in sales should know these seven secrets:

1. You can only sell something if you believe it yourself

This is something that can’t be stressed enough. If you don’t believe in your product, find another job immediately. You might be able to say all the right things when making a presentation, but if you don’t truly believe what you’re saying then the customer won’t believe it either. Sure, you might be able to close some deals in the near-term, but there’s no way you’ll build a long term career by faking your enthusiasm. If you don’t believe in your product, do everyone a favor and move on, even if it hurts for a bit.

2. Slow down to speed up

The world moves so fast now that it can feel like a struggle every day just to keep up. Studies have shown that even movies have sped up significantly in the last 80 years. In a world where no one takes their time anymore, the people who do will reap the benefits. This can apply to slowing down in order to listen to your prospect instead of hurrying off the phone for the next call, or spending more time explaining details to them than your competitors would. This doesn’t mean you should take your time dialing the phone or letting days go by before responding to an email, but it means doing a bit more research on a prospect before calling, and taking the time to think of a great response before hitting ‘send.’

3. Focus on helping people

A salesperson’s job description may involve prospecting, forecasting, and quotas, but the true goal of every salesperson should be to help people. We tend to forget that fact when we’re bogged down in the day-to-day hustle of the job, but if you’re not thinking about how you can best help whoever you’re talking to, you might never reach those goals you’re constantly thinking about. There is a dramatic mental shift that happens when you stop looking at a prospect as someone you need to convince to give you money and start looking at what you can do to help them solve their problems and improve their lives. Once you adopt that frame of mind, doors will open up for you that you never even knew existed.

4. If you don’t know the answer, don’t guess

Salespeople tend to have a hard time admitting that we don’t know something. Because we’re so anxious to be seen as experts in our field, admitting that you don’t have an answer can make you feel like a failure. But pretending to know something that you don’t and faking your way through is even worse. A prospect may know the answer and just be testing you by asking you a question, or look up the answer for themselves after you’ve tried to fool them, and there is no quicker way to break trust than by pretending to know something you don’t.

5. Staying motivated is key

Legendary sales trainer Zig Ziglar once said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Ziglar was definitely onto something, and even the most hard-charging sales reps will agree. Whatever motivates you to succeed, use it as fuel whenever you start feeling down on yourself or too tired to keep going. We’ve even added some motivational pictures to Spiro to help motivate you to sell more.

6. Understand that rejection comes with the territory

You shouldn’t expect rejection, but you should understand that it can happen and move on immediately whenever it does. One of the best skills a salesperson can possibly have is the ability to not let rejection slow them down. Imagine pitching every single customer with the same enthusiasm and conviction that you would if you had never been rejected before. That’s what you should strive for every time you get in front of a prospect. In fact, use rejection as motivation for your next pitch since every “no” you hear brings you one step closer to a “yes!”

7. You will only succeed if you embrace what you do

Sales managers and trainers don’t cover this topic as much as they should and it oftentimes gets glossed over when talking about sales, but the reason why so many salespeople don’t succeed or fail to live up to their true potential is because they never fully embrace their profession. Sure, you may have regrets in life, who doesn’t? But if you can’t come to terms with what you’re doing for a living, and find ways to not only succeed in sales but to actually enjoy it, you will never make a great living at it. Salespeople are some of the most well-paid people on the planet, and oftentimes develop great reputations by helping people solve their problems, but if you can’t get past the stigma and misconceptions of being a salesperson, then you shouldn’t be one.