You’ve had your first big sale. Congratulations! You will feel a boost in your confidence and motivation to complete your next one. You really can do this job, after all. Before you get ahead of yourself, though, take some time to consider three lessons you can learn from your first big sale. It’s always wise to reflect on what went well with each sale as well as what you could do better next time.

Stop Talking and Listen

Nothing you have prepared to say is as important as what a customer is saying to you. Why is that? When you speak first, you give away information and inadvertently commit yourself to a certain position. This limits your options and puts you at a disadvantage.

Always listen first so you can understand where a customer is coming from, what their needs are, and what you need to do to solve their problems and make a sale. Listening effectively is a skill that many sales reps neglect. By cultivating this skill, you’ll be ahead of the pack.

Turn Problems Into Opportunities

Your first big sale probably didn’t go smoothly from start to finish, but hopefully you learned that the most important opportunities to make sales occur when things go wrong. Responding well during a crisis is an invaluable skill, which you can and should develop as a sales person. 

By solving a problem for a client, you become an ally in their eyes, and they begin to trust you and consider you an expert. Cultivate this feeling by listening carefully to their problems and crafting unique solutions for them.

Put Your Customers First

Your first big sale probably taught you that you’ll never go wrong by putting your customers first. Yes, you have meetings, paperwork, and a thousand other things to do, but when a customer contacts you with a concern or issue, it’s best to drop everything and do what you can to help.

When you put your customers first, you create loyalty and lasting business relationships, the kinds of relationships that lead to an ever-expanding network of important contacts in your industry. When you put your customers first, you get more referrals, and these referrals help you to reach your next big sale.

Learning on the job is a big part of a sales person’s training, and that training continues even after your first big sale. In fact, after each big sale, review your pitfalls and successes. You can even discuss the sale with your new client, asking what you can do better in the future. This candid way of discussing your business relationship can lead to further sales and help you to be even more effective in the future.

When you learn the above three lessons, your big sale is just the beginning of your success.