3 Sales Secrets to 10x your sales overnight!

The end of the financial year has come and gone. Many of us finished the year punching the air over the results we achieved. Yet...some reports suggest that between 50 to 60% of sales people will miss their quota!! WOW - that’s a lot of sales people asking themselves WTF….

With the new financial year upon us, here are 3 sales secrets that will help you 10x your sales.

Secret #1 - There is no secret to success

Yes I know, WTF? I am reading this because you said you had a secret….Sorry to break it to you, there is NO secret when it comes to being a high performing sales professional. Sales requires effort!  There is no easy way to achieve success. If you are looking for a short cut, best you think about looking for a new career. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but there are too many empty suits asking for the magic formula when it comes to selling, and these are the salespeople who give us sales PROFESSIONALS a bad reputation. If you are looking to succeed in sales, the magic happens when you create the right mindset and build a healthy pipeline. When you focus on your mindset and your pipeline, it’s like watching David Copperfield in Las Vegas…..Magic happens…..SALES simply fall from the sky. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to get back to the basics and set your focus on helping your customer through their buying process. Too many “experts” are telling us the buyer and selling has changed and Social Selling is the magic that will help you close more deals…..BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH…..

The number 1 secret to success is knowing there are no short cuts. That being successful in the world of sales means you need to be constantly learning, challenge yourself each day to be disciplined and get the basics right to deliver the best customer experience possible. 

ACTION: Focus on your mindset and be honest with yourself about it takes to be successful. 

I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my Shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed.

-Og Mandino

The Greatest Salesman in the World 

Secret #2 – Know your Customer

Now…. I can hear you screaming…I can hear the frustration. Luigi…..what the actual F@&%. Know your customer? I have been selling for years, I know my customer! But when was the last time you reviewed your customer personas? When we lose focus on our customer and only think about the sale, we miss the shifting needs and challenges of our customer. One of the most crucial components in building rapport is having empathy for our customers. Having empathy requires us to focus on their needs and walk a mile in their shoes. A great way to do this conduct an empathy map on a regular basis. It’s crucial when conducting this exercise to consider the whole person and appreciate the impact challenges are having on both their professional and personal life. This enables you to contextualise your conversations, really build rapport and strengthen your relationships.

Action: Review your customer personas each quarter conduct an empathy mapping exercise, put yourself in your customer's shoes and think about the needs and challenges they experience and impact these challenges are having them professionally and personally. 

There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everyone in the company. Simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton – Walmart

"Quoted from Rebirth of the Salesman Chapter 5 – Cian Mcloughlin" 

Secret #3 – Hold yourself accountable for your learning and development

The only person who can hold you accountable is you. In an ideal world, we would all have a Sales Manager with brilliant coaching skills, unfortunately, few of us are lucky enough to have that luxury. With a fixed mindset, it’s easy to lay blame and say "I’m not hitting my target because my manager doesn’t provide enough coaching”. I feel for you, we've all been there, but today there is no excuse. We now have access to so much information, with some of the best sales minds in the world creating content they share with you daily. Books you can simply jump online and receive in a matter of days or access immediately and download in digital. If reading isn’t for you, there’s YouTube and videos. If your learning style is auditory there’s audible books or podcasts, and the kinesthetic learners can access eLearning modules that give you activities to follow.

Traditionally we connect being held accountable to our manager. Yet the person whose opinion matters and can motivate you more than any other, is the one who looks back at you in the mirror. If you wake up and you’re not happy with what you see, step up, take control and make a change.

The ability to hold ourselves accountable and push ourselves to be better each day is one of the most important skills we can develop. Have I experienced days where I look at myself in the mirror and wasn’t happy with my day….or with the way I performed…Or with the way I handled a certain situation? Absolutely! I’m human, I’m passionate and I get emotional. I make mistakes. However, I'm proud to say I always hold myself accountable for where I am at and look for how I can improve every day. 

Blaming others and finding excuses for your challenges comes from a fixed mindset. If you’ve identified an opportunity to improve your skills or process, determine how you will improve and take action.

Action: Define the metrics you need to achieve and the non-negotiables required to be successful in your role. Develop a personal goal and the steps required to achieve it. The goal needs to be aligned to your passion, be highly motivating and impact your Sales KPI’s.

“You are fully accountable for everything that shows up in your life”.

      - Keith Rosen 

Conclusion:

High performing sales professionals share common characteristics. They are focused on learning and focused on being the best they can be. They are competitive. They have high expectations for themselves, high performers don’t shy away from hard work. They understand that in order to be the best they must work hard and do what others aren’t prepared to do. So before you start hunting clients and trying to find hacks to increase sales think about your mindset and what you are doing daily to improve your attitude so you can be the best sales professional you can be.

If you are having trouble with a growth mindset shoot me a message and I will share how I develop my growth mindset to be the best sales professional I can be.