If you’re struggling to make quota, or falling behind on conversions, you could be on your way to becoming a sales zero. Nobody wants to be at the back of the sales team, watching everyone else close deals. It’s much nicer being in the front, making sales and earning some nice commissions. If you’ve started to slip toward the rear of the pack, it’s not too late to turn things around and become a sales hero. Following these three simple steps can help you go from a sales zero, to a sales hero.

Keep Listening

One of the biggest peeves reported by prospects is a salesperson who doesn’t seem to be listening to them. This bad habit will drive away prospects and clients faster than you would believe. You can’t fake listening-you’re either attending to what your prospects say, or you aren’t. Rest assured, they will be able to tell the difference.

When you actually listen and pay attention to your prospects, they’ll give you all the information you need to make the sale. You’ll be able to ask the right questions, and offer answers that relate directly to the prospect’s needs. From there, it’s easy to come up with solutions to their problems. Being able to understand their problems, and offer relevant solutions, will go a long way toward helping you close the deal. The best way to get all of that information is simply by listening to what your prospects have to say.

Keep Learning

Prospects don’t have the time or desire to teach you about their business. And they don’t want to listen to vague generalizations that you’ve thrown together at the last minute. If your initial contact doesn’t relate directly to their business needs, they’ll probably stop listening within seconds.

You absolutely must study the businesses you’re trying to sell to. You need to understand their immediate and long-term goals, as well as their pain points. When you speak to decision makers at the business, you need to be knowledgeable and confident. If you’ve just learned enough about their business to try to push a product,they’ll see right through you. To be a sales hero, you need to be genuinely interested in the success of your prospects and clients.

Seek Understanding

Your prospects have a reason for wanting to make a purchase. Do you know what that reason is? They also have a timeline and a budget-have you gotten information about those? Do you know who all the decision makers are, and how their individual needs affect the purchase decision? Until you know as much about the prospect’s motivators to buy, it’s going to be hard to convince them that you’re the person they should be buying from.

Once you do understand all of these things, you can create a sales presentation that is specifically tailored for success. It can address the pain points of each individual decision maker, while offering an overall solution to their existing need. You can also create alternative solutions, giving your prospects a choice other than “take it or leave it.” To reach this level of understanding, you have to truly commit to a relationship with your prospects. You have to be willing to invest the time and energy it takes to understand their needs, and how you can best address those needs.

From Zero to Hero

A lot of times, when a salesperson starts to slip toward the rear of the pack, it’s because they’ve drifted away from the good habits that made them a successful salesperson in the first place. If you’d like to move back to being a sales hero, you have to refocus on the training and techniques that help make other people successful in sales. You have to break your bad habits, find your motivation, and start focusing on being the best at what you do. 

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