In today’s economy, most of us are worried about career longevity and wondering what our futures would hold if we were to lose our jobs. There are very few career types that guarantee you’ll always have a job, but if you are in sales, and you’re good at what you do, you have very little to worry about, no matter what the state of the economy may be. A highly talented sales person really doesn’t have much to worry to about as companies will always be able to make room for someone who is going to benefit their bottom line.

If you’re currently looking for a sales job, or you want to improve your sales skills to give yourself the career longevity and security you crave, there are a few things you can do to help ensure that you’ll be a great sales person and land the career you want.

1. Learn to nurture your leads and prospects.

A good sales person knows that leads and prospects don’t convert on their own and that the hard sales process typically does not work, especially in a down economy. That means learning how to nurture and groom your prospects and leads and putting in a little extra work to close every sale. You’ve got to be able to learn all that you can about your prospects and figure out how your product or service is going to make their lives easier. By listening to your prospects and having actual needs based analysis conversations, you’ll turn yourself into a great sales person in a very short time period.

2. Believe in the power of relationship building.

The next step in the nurturing process is building a relationship with your prospects and leads. This is what separates so-so sales people from the truly great. Make notes when you talk to your prospects and keep track of life and career changes with them. The sales process is built on trust. The better your relationship is with your leads and prospects, the more likely they will be to trust you and as a result, the more willing they’ll be to buy from you.

3. Adapt and change as necessary.

Nothing is ever stagnant and sales processes have changed dramatically over the past few years. If you want to be a great sales person and land that sales job, you need to be on top of all of these changes and understand how to implement them in your daily work. Take continuing education and marketing classes to keep your mind sharp and to help you stay on top of all of the latest sales trends. The more you know, the better sales person you will be. This also goes for learning about the products and services you sell — you need to know everything you can about them in order to sell with authority — another distinguishing characteristic of high quality sales people.

4. Keep holding yourself accountable.

If you don’t hold yourself accountable, how can anyone else? Practice setting and keeping goals and compete against yourself. This keeps you working hard and staying hungry — and these are characteristics that are vital in sales people.

By implementing these changes, you’ll be able to separate yourself from the rest of the sales recruits and you’ll be much more likely to land the sales job you really want and the career security you need.