How to Become a Great Salesperson in SFI Business

Everyone is a salesperson. At any time of the day 24/7 buying and selling take place around the world. It is really a buyers and sellers world out there. To become a great salesman or saleswoman, you must be/do all of the following.

1. You must be very knowledgeable about the product you are selling.
2. You must have unlimited enthusiasm about the product.
3. You must know what problem(s) the product can solve.
4. You must have empathy.
5. You must be resilient and persistent.
6. You must be willing to promote your product/service.
7. You must be willing and able to sell.
8. You must be sharp and quick witted.
9. You must be friendly and easy to deal with.
10. You must be trustworthy.

There are many more traits you should have if you want to become a great salesman/woman but the above 10 are about all I can immediately recall now.

How Being an SFI Affiliate can Change Your Life

This is a very interesting topic because being an affiliate in SFI changes many people’s lives in many and varied ways. If what you mean is changing your life for the better, the following readily come to mind. When you become an SFI affiliate, your life changes for good!

1. You become a business owner.
2. You become your own boss.
3. You get the real satisfaction of working for yourself.
4. You follow a simple work schedule designed only for your own convenience.
5. You become highly sociable with fellow affiliates through a2a and the forums.
6. You become a fun-loving person by participating at the Trivia Games.
7. You become a knowledgeable person from SFI’s trainings.
8. You become a good reader/learner.
9. You become a good marketer/salesperson.
10. You become a good Business Manager.
11. You become a good Team Leader.
12. You become a good entrepreneur.
13. You become a major contributor to the e-commerce activities of your country.
14. You become a very valuable world citizen/business player earning a legitimate living.
15. You change from being poor to a middle level income earner or even a rich one.
16. You become a good business negotiator.
17. You become a good co-operative manager/member.
18. You become a generally happy and satisfied person. 

From the foregoing and more, you can see why your being an SFI affiliate can always change your life for the better.

 

You Must Have a Can-Do Attitude To Sell

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

This is one indispensable requirement for salesmanship. All Salespersons must be self-motivating. Your “Can-Do Attitude” is what the bulk of this book is all about. You must therefore be already familiar with some of the requirements that can give you a “Can-Do Attitude.” A Salesperson is someone who is always able and willing to sell no matter the limitations. To be a good Salesperson with this attitude therefore, you must posses:

Unlimited enthusiasm

Solid belief in yourself and your abilities

Belief in your merchandise

Definiteness of purpose

Unselfishness

Abiding faith

Versatility

Imagination

Positive thoughts

Sincerity of purpose

How to Be a Fantastic Salesperson

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

To be a fantastic salesperson, here is what you need in abundance:

Good-Health and Energy: You need good-health at all times to be able to sell. When you are unhealthy, your thinking is distorted, your spirit is low, your drive is reduced, your enthusiasm is deflated and your general effectiveness will be seriously impaired. Not many people will want to do business with a sick man.

A Friendly Disposition: According to ancient Chinese, “A man without a smile should not open a shop.” A friendly Salesperson is usually very effective. You must learn to smile and to put customers at ease. A keen sense of humor is an icing on the cake. Facial expression, the correct body language, voice-tone and voice-moderation all enhance your friendly disposition.

Persuasiveness: A good Salesperson must be familiar with the motives that move people to buy. That is, what motivates them to buy? Different people have different motivations for making purchases. Every buyer has a motive for buying. The product may appeal to the person’s reason, their instinct or their emotion. These are the main motivating factors for buying. Armed with this, a Salesperson should be able to persuade a prospective buyer while using these sentiments. People may refuse to buy initially because of lack of money, lack of time, lack of sufficient information, the need not pressing enough and any such other reason. A good Salesperson works to find a way around these obstacles to make a sale. You should never allow a “No” answer to dissuade you from making a sale. You should always find a way to turn the “No” to a “Yes” through skillful persuasion. It is imperative that you display enormous tolerance, accurate thinking, initiative and self-control. You should never pick offense if and when you are turned down. You should always try to act the impression that a turn-down is temporary and that the matter could be revisited when the obstacles have been cleared. Form the habit of making repeated calls on a Customer even if your calls are not yielding immediate fruits.

How to be an Effective Salesperson

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

To be an effective salesperson, here is what you need in abundance:

Balanced and up-to-date information: Good Salespersons must be well-informed and knowledgeable about their Product and their Customers. You must know your Product in and out and be conversant with all the new trends that affect the Product. You must be able to size-up your Customer to see if he or she is motivated enough to buy, to see if they can afford to buy, to see if they need to buy and finally to find out if they want to buy. If they want to buy and they can’t afford the money, you can work out a favorable credit arrangement to see if that will help them make up their minds. If they are not motivated enough to buy, you can skillfully work on their emotions or you reinforce the reasons why they need to buy from you. If you do not have sufficient knowledge about your product and its market you will experience some handicap trying to persuade anyone to buy from you.  

Empathy: You must be able to show real and genuine empathy to your Customers. Make friends with them. Show concern and care even for their private affairs where and when it is prudent to do so. Always mentally swap places with the Customer to see whether if you were in their shoes how your reaction will be. Take their reluctance to heart and see how you can gradually help them to arrive at favorable decisions. Show genuine concern and willingness to be of help even if you do not make a sale at that material time. 

Are You a Good Salesperson?

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

“No matter who you are or how much you know, you will not succeed unless you are a salesman. You must sell your services. You must sell your knowledge. You must sell yourself. You must sell your personality.”—Napoleon Hill

Preparing to meet and deal with a Customer is like preparing to meet and deal with a potential employer. Everyone agrees that this is the time you need to look and act your best. This is the stage to put your best foot forward. The Customer is the reason why you are in business. Without him, you are out in the cold broke and courting bankruptcy. You therefore can’t be too careful at courting the Customer. Before you can sell anything to a Customer, you must be able to sell yourself first. You must therefore acquire and nurture some marketing skills and qualities.

 

You Need a Pleasing Personality to Sell

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

A pleasing personality is such an all-embracing quality that it practically touches on all characteristics that make you a human being. Specifically:

You must be able to dress decently and turn-out appropriately to fit any occasion. This does not necessarily mean you have to dress in an expensive manner but if you can afford to, why not? Some employers, particularly Banks pay their employees “dressing allowance” to enable them turn-out very well at all times to fit the corporate image of the company. Good dressing works almost like magic in the business world. When you go looking for employment, your appearance alone can disqualify you even before anyone bothers to ask you a question to find out what you know. This further underscores the importance of good dressing.

Your posture and body-carriage say a lot about your personality. You must be able to carry yourself well, look and act smartly to improve on your pleasing personality.

As a Salesperson, you must have some measure of showmanship to impress customers.

You must be able to “pose” for effects but be sure that it is not over dramatized. Good Salespersons must be good Show-persons.

You must have some poise and some air of self-confidence. These qualities help to build trust and also add to your personality.

You must be tactful and courteous in dealing with people. Weigh what you want to say thoroughly before saying it. Avoid loose and discourteous statements when presenting a case.

You must be a good listener but should be able to display real personal magnetism.

You should never talk-down on Customers.

 

How to Market Yourself Well as a Business Owner?

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

Just listen to this! The first thing a Salesperson markets is themselves. They must be able to market themselves effectively before they can succeed in marketing any product or service. If you can’t sell yourself, you may not be able to sell any other thing. The reason is simple. Nobody knows you as you know yourself. According to Robert Louis Stevenson, “Everybody lives by selling something.” Every hour of the day, buying and selling is going on. At every stage in your life, if you are not buying something, you are selling something. This is what keeps humans busy and humanity gainfully engaged. It is all a buyers and sellers world.

Manufacturers sell goods which Customers purchase.

Footballers sell skills which Club-owners buy.

Teachers sell knowledge which their Students buy.

Hoteliers sell rooms which their Lodgers buy.

Landlords sell shelter which their Tenants buy.

Filling stations sell petrol which Motorists buy.

Musicians sell music which their Fans buy.

Entertainers sell fun which their Fans buy.

Doctors sell their skills which their Patients buy.

Restaurants sell food and drinks which their Customers buy.

The list is endless. Everyone is either buying or selling. In such a business that involves everybody, succeeding despite all the odds requires some skills. This is why sellers must first be able to sell themselves to buyers before they can succeed in selling any other thing. Remember, whatever you can accomplish in life has a direct bearing on who you are. You must therefore be extremely skillful at selling yourself to others. This requirement covers all fields of human endeavor.