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Advice and information about a sale career

By
Real Estate Agent with DH Management
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About Sales in general!


A. Sales are at the heart of everything we do in life.

·      From childhood, we’re selling ourselves and/or our ideas to others. This boils down to our basic relationships with parents, spouse, employer or friends.

·      At the end of the day, we’re all salesman!

·      Anytime we interact with another person we are in some way being sold or are selling ideas and concepts!

 

B. We all have a different style!

·      All of us have definite sales styles. By this I mean each of us has a unique and individual way in which we interact with people. To illustrate this point, ask yourselves?

·      Are we low key or do we come on strong or even pushy?

·      Are we information gatherers or do we like to improvise or even do both.

·      Are we negotiators and/or problem solvers?

·      Think about it.  In your interactions with people you’ve encountered all these (and more) different styles.

 

Extremely Important!

·      You must know and understand your own individual style, or how you basically interact with people

·       You must always strive to improve weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths.

·      You must always remain true to your basic feelings and values.

·      Bottom line is that if you’ve been successful at sales, stick with whatever style works for you and you feel comfortable with! (Remember I said been successful with-if your sales experience has been negative up to this point, then it’s obviously time to rethink your style and method)

 

*Ok So I recognize and understand my own sales style or approach. Now what?

·      Develop it, work on it and improve it. Your style defines who you are.

 

Watch out for-

·      Anyone who implies that his or her sales approach is the ONLY way.

·      To adapt their style, means that you have to change your basic beliefs and/or personality)

 

However-

·      Listen to them and when you hear something that makes sense, adapt it into your own style.  There is always room for improvement.

·      Everyone has something to say that we can probably benefit from.

*My point is, just don’t buy into it hook line and sinker.

 

Always!

·      Stay true to yourself.

·      Don’t try to reinvent your basic personality or be somebody you’re not.  If you do, be assured that most people will pick up on it and you’ll lose esteem instead of gaining it.

·      Remember that you can achieve incredible success and still remain the same person you are.

*In conclusion if people like you for who you are, and you’ve had a good sales record, don’t try to reinvent yourself.

 

C. Sales is a percentage Game!

·      Batters in the national league are considered good if they bat 300 or better. (That’s three hits in 10)

·      No one can achieve 100% sales, unless the product is illegal. Find out what the norm is in your industry among top producers and then work to achieve and better that.

 

Important Premise

“Only worry about the things you have control over”

 

D. Sales is an up and down process.

·      You will have good days and bad days.

·      Whenever you become successful, you’ll find that the highs tend to be really high and the lows really low.

·      Some people cannot handle this in their lives. If that’s the case then you need to probably work at a job, where you punch a time clock and do the same thing repeatedly and play it safe.

·      What I’m saying is know that there will be ups and downs. Just, don’t dwell on it. There’s always tomorrow.

 

E. One essential way to always stay optimistic.

·      Get to the point where you honestly believe that you can help your customer better than anyone else.

*Note: To get to the point where you honestly feel you have the most to offer will take lots of work, but the payoff is immense.

·      Always keep this goal in mind, as it will point out the approach to take to get there.

 

F. You cannot get along with everyone.

·      There are always going to be people you won’t be able to deal or get along with.

·      I’m sure you’ve run into people that you just couldn’t relate to and/or didn’t want to.

* The danger here is forming too early an opinion of the other person.  As to that please consider trying the following.

 

G. How to turn a negative situation or person around.

·      Keep your opinions from forming (count 10) and then truly try to understand the other person’s motivation.

·      If you’ll do that, about half the time, you can turn the situation into a positive rather than a negative experience.

*Please understand that it’s worth the effort, because once you’ve gotten a tough customer on your side, he’ll be just as tough in favor of you as against you.

 

Another way to look at it.

·      Generally if a client is too easy, he’s that way with everyone and in some cases won’t really commit to anything. He just wants to be a nice guy

·      If you really try and see that you can’t get something going with the customer, let it go.

·      In the business of Real Estate refer him to another agent so you’ll still make money for your efforts. We simply cannot please everyone.

 

H. Straight commission is the way to go!

·      Successful salespeople know that the best money is in straight commission sales.

·      Next to Doctors, Pilots, Architects (professional designations) and CEO’s, Professional sales people have the highest income potential.

·      In fact, there are lots of Real Estate agents that make more money than people with professional titles.

·      Selling is a both a career choice and a Profession. If you approach a sales career as a professional endeavor the rewards are limitless.

 

Why is straight commission so important?

·      In almost all cases, if you play it safe and go for a base wage, the good money will not be available to you. There definitely is a tradeoff here.

 

With straight commission, you are completely on your own, however if you opt for straight commission, the benefits are as follows.

 

·      There is generally no ceiling on how much you can make.

·      If you want a raise you don’t have to depend on someone else’s opinion. All you need to do are the things necessary to increase your income-work harder and/or work smarter!

·      Your future is determined by you and you alone. Not by another person.

·      People who earn straight commission are generally not as tightly managed as those that are on a wage.

·      This is not to say that you don’t have to perform, but just that you will enjoy more freedom with your time.

·      To sum it up then, be yourself, learn your product and listen well to what your customers say and you will have a great sales career and life”

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Comments (1)

Jason Romrell
Business Attorney and Success Advisor - Los Angeles, CA
That's a lot of advice, but a lot of great stuff!
Sep 11, 2007 07:17 AM