Are great salespeople made or born? That is still a question that is up for debate. There are some things that aren’t up for debate, however and those are that there are some characteristics that top-performing sales people share. If you run a business and work with a sales force, these are some of the qualities you will want to hire for or train if you find an individual that is stellar, but who may not possess all of the following qualities.
Here is what to look for in a top-performing sales person:
They believe in your mission and your product. If they don’t believe in what you’re doing and what they are selling, the relationship will not be a successful one.
They have a positive attitude. Sure, everyone has a bad day, but if you have a sales person who lights up the room and lifts the spirits of his co-workers, you have someone with whom you want to partner.
They are engaged. If you have a sales force that likes to have fun as well as work hard — congratulations! Look for sales people who can help formulate the sales message, work with their co-workers to find solutions to challenges.
They know how to “sell” your product or service. Yes, they need to believe in the company and its mission, but they also need to know the best way to sell what you have to offer. They understand that they are more effective if they’re offering a potential client a solution to a pain point.
They are credible. In order to build a relationship with a potential client, your sales force needs to build a relationship and show they are credible and reliable. Not everyone engenders confidence and respect, but if you have someone on your sales team who does, you have a gem.
What characteristics do you find relevant? Do you have difficulty finding, or retaining, sales people who have those qualities? If so, give us a call and let’s discuss your challenges.
When you’re a business owner, you need to know and understand your income and expenses. Perhaps you don’t need to be the only one involved in your bookkeeping and spreadsheet information, but you do need to run your business like a business and that means knowing your cash flow and what it means to your business success.
Fiscal sense is crucial to your business moving forward. Fiscal sense is also an important part of proving to the IRS that you are, in fact, a legitimate entity. There are three things you need to be aware of when it comes to money management and they are:
Responsibility — you need to know who is responsible for the business and its cash flow. You need to know whether you can handle the bookkeeping and accounting needs or if you need to delegate that responsibility. You need to know who is accountable for which of the company funds, for what purpose and you need metrics in place to track the cash.
Resilience — you need to be able to bounce back from a financial set back. This could mean that you have enough operating cash flow to get you through a tough month. You should be working with your financial advisor to assure your cash flow is there to pay the bills and keep the lights on.
Reflection — take time monthly to reflect on your business cash flow successes or those areas in which you need to make some changes in order to keep moving forward with a positive cash flow. Your business budget is not a one-and-done it is a living, breathing document.
How well-versed are you with your business’s money management?
No man is an island and that certainly holds true for entrepreneurs. You should foster relationships and partnerships in your entrepreneurial endeavors to propel your business forward. No business owner can be all things to all people and most business owners focus on a core competency as a way to niche-market themselves. I’ve found, in my coaching business, that many people prefer to work with specialists rather than generalists.
Here are some ways you can grow your business if you grow your partnerships:
If you have a company that manufacturers products, look for a fulfillment partner so you can concentrate on the manufacture and hand off the fulfillment.
Do you run the show from overseeing the manufacturing to making sales presentations? Determine where your core competency lies and delegate the rest. Maybe you’d be better served to bring on a sales team or a sales person.
How are your products distributed? Do you need a sales person to help with distribution and perhaps find new channels?
Have you considered white labeling your products? Using your own product but licensing them and re-labeling them under another name? You see this a lot in the electronics industry.
Who is handling your marketing and promotions? Do you have a blog for your business? Are you interacting on social media to reach new clients? It might make sense to work with either a marketing and public relations firm and a blogger to help with the promotions of your product.
The same partnerships can be formed for those who provide services as well as those who provide products. Determine what you need, what you can delegate and find a partner.
Are you a middle manager? Are you looking for a way to move up the corporate ladder? Middle managers face unique challenges as they are navigating the corporate environment of appeasing clients and bosses and cultivating the talent of the team they supervise. How can you thrive in your position? Here are some ideas that middle management individuals will want to consider:
You need to always have a “leadership mindset.” What this means is that you need to be forward thinking and lead your team through example rather than micromanagement. Increase your influence by focusing on the people, rather than the tasks you are charged with.
Cultivate your communication skills. The nature of your work means you are literally in the middle — between your staff and upper level management — and you need to foster communication between all parties. Ensuring open lines of communication lends itself to moving projects forward, asking for resources and delegating. Work on clear communication to minimize miscommunication.
Coach those on your staff to help them develop their talents. Sure, they may develop their talents to a level where they can move up the ranks, and that only shines a light on you if you worked with them to develop and grow into a new position. If your staff rarely moves up into newer, higher level positions, you may need to look at your management style to see if you’re perhaps not encouraging growth.
Middle management isn’t the easy path to navigate as you’re faced with finite resources in both personnel and resources, but it’s up to you to make the most of them and let your light shine. What have you done in your middle management position to grow?
SSShhhh it’s a secret. Do you feel that way when you have a new business idea? That is it a secret that you simply can’t share or someone will “steal it”? That is the mind set that many entrepreneurs have and in most cases it’s not warranted. Granted, there have been those times in business when an idea can be “stolen” and someone takes your idea and runs with it before you’ve had a chance to implement it. That is unfortunate but for the most part here is what I believe to be true about ideas.
They are just ideas.
Unless I share the nitty gritty behind how I’d implement said idea, no one would come up with the same plan that I have. You may find that your idea, upon further evaluation and investigation, simply isn’t viable. I suggest that entrepreneurs don’t get too married to an idea in case they have to divorce it because it just isn’t viable. If, however you feel that someone has stolen your idea you need to ask yourself: how did they get access to it? Were they better equipped to do it? Why did they take the idea to market and I haven’t moved off of first base yet?
Talk about your ideas with those you trust.
If you have a mentor, business coach or mastermind group, run the idea past them. If all you hear are crickets, ask for feedback as to why they aren’t excited about it. If they say, “I’d like to hear more” you may be onto something. If you brainstorm the idea and get into some nitty gritty details you may find it’s more daunting than you imagined or it’s simply not doable at this time and may need to be put on the backburner. You may find it’s an idea that you need to partner with someone on to bring to fruition.
Remember, an idea is just words until action brings it to life.
