How To Succeed In Your First Sales Job
Once you land your first sales job you will no doubt want to make a great first impression on your employer. Even if you have no previous sales experience, there are a few things you can do to ease into your new job and hit the ground running. The key is to adopt a positive attitude and a willingness to learn right from the start.
Here are some important considerations to help you succeed in sales:
1. Make Sure You Believe In The Product Or Service You Are Selling
If you are not absolutely sure about the product or service you’re trying to sell to others, you’re probably not going to succeed. You simply won’t have the interest or confidence in the product / service to really get behind it. So the key is to determine what your passion is and then find a sales job that matches that passion.
2. Treat Your Sales Job Like Its Your Own Business
One of the most important success factors will be to treat your employer’s business like it is your own. Just imagine that you open a business and it’s your responsibility to get up each morning and make sure that the business makes money. This is the attitude you will need to succeed in sales.
3. Keep Up To Date With The Changes In Your Industry
Stay on top of your industry and how the industry is likely to change in the future. If your competitors are successfully taking advantage of technology and you are not, you will eventually get beaten. It’s important to keep abreast of change and how it affects both you and your competitors.
4. Ask Questions And Listen
Ask your customers lots of questions so that you are sure you know what their problems and needs are. Don’t assume you know what your customers want. Asking questions of your customers shows them that you care about their needs and that you want to solve their problems.
5. Follow Through With Your Promises
Broken promises annoy customers. If you say you are going to call someone next Friday, then make sure you call them next Friday. If you promise that you will provide the customer with a trial of the product, then that trial needs to be provided to them. You can lose potential sales if you break a client’s trust in you.
6. Be Comfortable Hearing “No”
Don’t take things personally if a potential customer rejects your sales offer. You are simply representing your company and a “no” is not a rejection of you personally. Not everyone will want to do business with your company and you have to learn to cope with their rejections.