You are the spine of the company. You are the one who gets the money that eventually runs the company.

You are relentless, like a machine, always trying to make a sale. You are a salesman. Here’s how to be a great one:

Know your product
Understand your product like you understand yourself. Practise well. Once you know your product like the back of your hand, you are gold. Know it so well that no question rattles you.

Confidence
Once you know your product, you will automatically be more confident. Confidence is extremely important in sales. Your voice, and your body language, everything matters. So develop a calm, confident attitude and you will soar.

Be proud
Take pride in your company and your product. If you’re not convinced yourself of what you’re selling, there is no way in hell will you be able to convince others. Start by taking pride in what you do and the service or product you’re representing. It will be infectious, and soon people will be queuing up to buy from you.

Be warm
Be genuinely curious about people and their feelings. Don’t be money-minded always. Selling is mostly about gaining confidence of the person you’re selling to. If he trusts you and feels that you have his best interests at heart, he will buy your product in a second. Work on your people skills. Why some sales people are more successful than others is because they care for the people they want to sell to.

Look for opportunity everywhere
I heard from a friend about a certain vacuum cleaner salesman who once met with an accident. A lady took him to her house and gave him first aid. Seeing the big box by his side she got curious. He asked her to go ahead and open the box and remove the vacuum cleaner. Since he was in pain, he was unable to move and hence he gave her verbal instructions on how to use the product. The lady used the vacuum cleaner by herself and was so amazed by the results, she bought one right away. And said she was going to recommend it to all her friends and family.

Positive attitude
Yes, doors will be shut on your face. Yes, some will even hurl curses at you. But just like you don’t quit driving because you banged your car once, you don’t let these setbacks get to you. Don’t take rejections personally. There is one great sale waiting to happen. Things will look up. Always be positive.

Ask the right questions
Avoid simple yes or no questions, because mostly the customer will say no. Ask questions that will banish their fears and make them more confident in buying your product. For a vacuum cleaner salesman: “Don’t you want your house spic and span?” The client will always say, Yes. Also, don’t keep talking. Stop and listen for cues. If you only listen carefully to what your client is saying, you will know exactly how to close the deal. Understand what the client wants and sell what he wants, not what you want to sell. Involve them, invoke their emotions. A car design student in India doesn’t want to know about the numbers of car designers in the world, he will want to know if he too can become like his hero, Chris Bangle or Shiro Nakamura.

Target the decision makers
Always bring your attention back to the person who you think is going to make the decision to buy. That doesn’t mean you exclude the others. But make all your sales pitches with the decision maker in mind.

Alter your spiel
You should be versatile enough to alter your content and delivery according to your target audience. You need to figure whether you need to get technical, or emotional, or personal or have a mix of all these.

Finish what you have to say
Complete your presentation before allowing your client to ask questions. You will cover most of their queries, so tell them to note down their questions and ask whatever they want to at the end of the presentation. Keep asking them questions throughout the presentation, keep them interested.

Close it well
This is it. This is where the moolah is which is why you need to take this step cautiously. Understand the verbal and non-verbal signs, and when you feel the client is close to saying yes, make your move and go for the kill.

Every salesman fails, but the speed at which he gets back on his feet is what matters. Be like an ant, be persistent. If you get knocked off the wall, get back on it and continue climbing, till you reach your goal.