Your level of sales motivation trumps your level of product knowledge when it comes to the number of sales you will be able to close. I believe this to be true no matter what the economy is doing. You can be the brightest salesperson on the street in terms of knowing more about your products / services and the industries you serve than anyone else, but if you’re not motivated, you’re not going to get anywhere. The only sales you will close are the ones that are staring you in the face, and even with those, you’ll never get the price you think you should be getting. On the other hand, a motivated person is the one who will find a way to work around any lack of knowledge they might have to close the sale, and usually for a higher profit. Think about it: in order for them to get that far in the sale, they had to do their homework and listen to the customer, not what the media is saying. The motivated salesperson is driven by one thing: serving a customer who knows that by doing business with them, they will win.
Instead of pursuing greater knowledge about what you sell, spend your time today making a list of how your customers benefit by buying from you. After you’ve written the list, review it and be thankful that you provide your customers the opportunity to benefit from your products / services. Finally, take the time to come up with three open questions you can ask a prospect that will help get them thinking about one of the benefits your wrote down. By completing this exercise and believing in what you’ve written down, I guarantee you’ll have success when you get out and do it!
