“How Do I Become a Top Salesperson? I want to be better but I’m struggling!”

Here’s what I’ve found that worked for me…

What Works – The Skinny Details

Reading Sales / Business / Self-Help Books

It doesn’t matter which books. There are plenty of great choices. Just pick one and go with it. Try reading at least one per quarter and watch your sales numbers go up. Also, don’t feel that you have to implement “everything” you read into action… many times it’s just one or two nuggets that you can take away that will have a huge impact for you long term.

Here are my favorites:

• Stephen Covey – 7 habits of highly effective people
• Dale Carnegie – How to win friends and influence people
• Spencer Johnson – Who Moved My Cheese?

Listening to Audio Books

Try listening to a business (sales/self-help etc) book on tape for at least 5-minutes every day on the way to work for 20 business days in a row and watch how much of an impact that will have on your attitude.

Here are the ones I’m listening (and some, re-listening to) the past two weeks:

• Donald Trump – Art of the Deal
• Chris Voss – Never Split the Difference
• Mark Roberge – The Sales Acceleration Formula

Role-Playing

Role-playing was one of the single biggest contributors to my success and I’ve seen it save many a salesperson’s job. Of course, you need to make sure you are role-playing the proper sales techniques. Otherwise, you reinforce what isn’t working!

Tip: Set up a sales role-playing schedule. Options could be:

• Monday through Friday;
• Monday / Wednesday / Friday or…
• Tuesday and Thursday.

Whichever schedule you decide on make role-playing “mandatory”. Also, role-playing sessions should be anywhere from 5-minutes to 20-minutes max and they can be a great replacement for morning sales meetings. (It can also give your sales manager a break as well… It’s not easy coming up with a new way to say the same thing all the time)

Recording Your Sales Calls

The fastest way I know to correct phone sales mistakes is to record your calls and then have them critiqued. Have your calls analyzed in front of your peers as well. It magically speeds up the learning curve.

Learning from those who have already achieved what it is that you are after

Someone else has already conquered the roadblocks to your success. Learn from them and you will leapfrog to that next level.

PS… In case you’re wondering…

Here’s What Doesn’t Work

1. Doing nothing / Waiting for things to get better on their own
2. Blaming the leads, management, marketing department, etc
3. Not trying anything new
4. Believing it’s not “you” it’s “them”
5. Not believing in yourself (or your sales team)
6. Learning from has-beens, no it all’s and Naysayers who’ve never really reached or sustained the level of what you are after.

– Michael Pedone

Founder of SalesBuzzz.com – an Interactive Online Sales Training Company offering B2B Sales Training Programs for Inside Sales Teams that Want Better Results!