4 Words for Sales Success

So I was asked to speak to a sales summit recently and landed on “4 Words.” Simple. Clear. Effective.

1. Knowledge. Spend more time learning your business than you do talking about it. Learn your industry. Most importantly, learn your customers’ businesses. This last point matters because prospects and customers don’t care about your knowledge except as it touches their needs.
2. Focus. What business do you really want? Do you really want to do business with everyone like MacDonald’s or Walmart? It’s easy to waste time pursuing business you don’t really want and call it success. Pressure to perform often leads to this. Instead, think of the 3-4 traits of business you really want. Safe. Profitable. Partner minded.
3. Activity. Activity breeds results. Smart activity breeds smart results. Activity for activity’s sake is just donkey work. Smart, thoughtful, strategic activity is what makes the difference.
4. Belief. To sell successfully you have to believe. In your product. In your team. In your company. If you don’t believe you are working for the best company with the best solution, how can you sell it? And, of course, believe in yourself. Confidence is a powerful sales tool.

I want to encourage you to embrace these four basic ideas and see them work for you.