Steps to Becoming a Great Salesperson

Talking

I’ve enjoyed spending some time with our connection at Senior Helpers. Sometimes you step back to take an inventory of the business, what’s working, and what’s not. My conversation has been so healthy with them. Let me tell you why. We talked about the differences between dealing with hospitals or pharmacies, or physicians. We looked at the steps of becoming a great salesperson.

two men looking at computer

Together, we examined the difference between medical home health and non-medical home care. Researching the size and scope, and direction of the industry was interesting. He and I also reviewed missed opportunities and untapped demographics. There’s a whole market share waiting for somebody to come and service it. These conversations validated what we do at my company and why we do it. And I’m going to try to summarize a little bit of some of the insights that I gained from these conversations from my friend at Senior Helpers.

Sampling

Daily, when I talk about ‘the field,’ I speak of a group of people with great hearts and good skills. Sometimes I worry they have difficulty envisioning themselves building and managing a business. It can be scary to think about running a business and starting to organize a plan. You’ll bring in somebody to shadow, and then you’ll hire your salespeople. I mean, that’s scary. If you’ve never done that before, it’s hard to think about how you do it, how you’d keep them busy.

For example, non-medical home care companies are hunters. I mean, they are in the industry because the industry is a sales industry. They like dealing with the aging population. Dealing with the health and senior service providers and the community is their jam. This industry is in its infancy of growth in our country. But there’s something about the non-medical home care business and its great salespeople.

older lady sitting on a ch

Obviously, they are hunters. If they don’t go out and hunt and kill an order, they don’t eat. And I know that these are true salespeople with a passion for the people and a passion for the industry. There is a clear-cut vision of what kind of income they want. Courageously, they take the steps to become a great salesperson.

Let me give you some beautiful gems that came from this conversation. I hope it changes your perspectives about your potential.

Harvesting

First of all, partner with people out there every day, harvesting referrals from the same type of people you harvest referrals from.

Remember that most franchise owners had to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank. These people had to go out and pay to get franchise rights to their area. They paid for their geographical territory. And also paid for the right to tap into all those referral sources in a protected area. But now they have to go out and build the entire thing.

Salespeople from various home care companies are going out and selling $ 20-an-hour services. According to Consumer Affairs, prices range from twenty dollars to thirty dollars an hour. They’re selling to the same middle America on-up customer like you. And they’re selling twenty dollars to thirty dollars an-hour service plans!

Consequentially, their average customer brings in thousands of dollars a year in revenue. They’re putting hundreds of these customers on their books. People are building businesses. These businesses are doing millions in gross annual sales. They know and perform the steps of great salespeople.

Let me tell you; I was looking at a review of one of the non-medical home care companies out there. They’re doing like $800 million a quarter in the United States servicing middle America. These are cash-paying seniors who are paying twenty to thirty dollars an hour. Do you know how many customers they’ve been able to develop? They are turning down 70% of the inquiries!

Learning to become a great salesperson

Second, grab a sales book you download or take off the shelf weekly. You ought to be reading a new one. Listen to a podcast. Read another blog.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that are faking. It’s faking because of complacency. They go out and get enough sales to keep moving it along. Sure, there are some numbers on the books and they sell a little bit here and there. But then a kind of complacency comes in. And they don’t take it to the next level.

Sometimes they don’t take it to the next level because they don’t have the strength and courage. They don’t go confront some of the opportunities in the marketplace. They’ve missed some steps in becoming great salespeople.

Read about others’ experiences and journeys. Grab what pertains to you and leave what doesn’t. Learn from those who have successfully gone before you. And count yourself blessed to have the benefit of their experience speaking into yours.

And you are thinking right now, “well, people like to talk about money.” Look, go ahead and compliment, sympathize, and talk about the money. Permit them to talk about the money. Bring it up. Don’t let it be the elephant in the room. Tell them there’s nothing more important under this roof now than the service you provide.

Practicing

Third, you better know how to string the words together. As I said in my previous blog, you better be recording and playback, record and playback, record and playback. It would help if you played it back at twenty, thirty, or even forty times. And pretty soon, you’ll know so much, you’ll be at 50 and adding another piece.

woman writing at a desk

When you have so much confidence built up there will be courage built on the foundation of confidence. You’ll start beating doors down and making those sales. Your community will see you obtaining those endorsements or creating that have-to-have-it piece. In that, you are becoming what you were to become all along, a great salesperson.

Believing you’ll become a great salesperson

Fourth, do you believe you can build a business that does a quarter of a million, one-half of a million, or 2 million this year? If not, why not? Before it starts, you must decide that you will get the outcomes you want.

So, to become that great salesperson, you must remember you will get there, but you must believe you will do it. Be a hunter. Focus. Track down those orders. Get them in the system, or you don’t eat and won’t thrive.

Trust in yourself, tie that to a vision, and start visualizing what it looks like around your new home. What does it look like when your fingers go around the steering wheel of that new car? How do you feel when you call your Wells Fargo or B of A account and see a savings account with an impressive total?

Envisioning

You need to see the pictures on the mantle of the vacations and trips you’ve taken. Imagine opening up that closet and seeing those shoes, shirts, and coats, seeing a new wardrobe. Consider what your views are like in the place you long to live.

Woman thinking with eyes closed

You’ve got to envision those lead forms coming through. Picture it in your mind. See yourself calling on people excited to meet you. Imagine and visualize hearing those people talk about how much they love you and how great you are. Imagine that connection and that endorsement. You’ve earned it. Envision these things and see these things happening in your imagination.

You are a great salesperson

Finally, you can make this next month the best month you’ve ever had. Get your breakthroughs done. Move past the procrastination. Perfect your language and change your demeanor. Reinvent yourself and do things you never thought you could do before. You can charge those steps to become a great salesperson with confidence. And you will be happy you did.