10 SALES LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE GREAT ZIG ZIGLAR

Zig Ziglar, the Alabama-born motivational speaker and sales guru, was a man who seldom minced his words. Here are ten of his top sales lessons that his legacy has left the world.

1.      Sell to people’s emotions

According to Ziglar, “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” Once you understand why people buy certain products, your sales pitch becomes less about targeting customer logic and more about tapping into their emotional penchant for certain products.

Ziglar was never a man to shirk the goal that defines your business. After all, “a goal properly set is halfway reached.” To Ziglar, you need to start with the basics. What do you want to achieve by selling your product? What is your end goal? Setting achievable goals and knowing how to reach them provides the building blocks that aid your sales process.

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” Don’t let go of your dream and the goals you set for yourself – stay on track and focused, even when sales have decreased.

"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." With every failed sale, there is an opportunity to learn from the experience. Ziglar was adaptable; adopt a different approach and your shot at sealing the deal the next time round is made all the more easier.

According to Ziglar, sealing the deal on a sale has five basic obstacles: No need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust. Make sure that your product, and your sales skills, will convince the customer that at this moment in time, your product has sufficient value to warrant their immediate purchase, or, at least, their consideration.

Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.

"Stop selling. Start helping." Avoid selling for the sake of selling – customers don’t always need that product and shouldn’t feel coerced into buying it. Tend to their direct, personal needs; perhaps

there’s something else they may find of value?

“There is no traffic jam on the extra mile.” Going that extra step further will set you apart from the crowd, giving you few competitors when it comes to selling your product to potential customers.

Ziglar was an unmitigated advocate of transferable enthusiasm. “Selling is the transference of feelings. If I can get my prospect to feel about my product or service the way I feel about my product or service, he will not only want it … he will demand it.” Being passionate about your product is essential – a customer cannot be expected to buy a product if you are not willing to do the very same thing yourself.

“Many times the prospect will buy not because of their belief in the product, goods or service, but because of the belief of the salesperson.”

2.      Identify your goals

3.      Hold onto what you want to achieve

4.      Learn from failed sales

5.      Identify your obstacles

6.      Embrace customer criticism

7.      Change your own attitude towards selling

8.      Go the extra mile

9.      Transfer your enthusiasm to your customer

10.  Sell yourself; not only your product

Zig Ziglar changed the way salespeople conducted sales interactions and planned their sales strategies – he taught them to move away from selling with logic and to move towards a sales strategy based on helping others, listening to customers, and selling to people’s emotions. How can you do the same for your own sales strategy?

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ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!!

To be a successful sales person, one needs to have adequate knowledge of the domain, be proficient in the skills required and have the right attitude. All the three are equally important though we tend to undermine the importance of having the right attitude to be successful. In fact the attitude of a sales person determines the altitude to which he can rise in his career and in an organization.

Let’s review some of the attitudes that are very important for you as a sales person.

Confident: The first and perhaps the most important attitude that a sales person needs to possess is confidence. Sales people must be confident about their abilities and about the product or services that they sell. Lack of confidence only manages to instill doubts in the mind of the prospects. Also, sales people are bound to face rejections during the course of their work and it is their confidence that helps them to take rejections in their stride and bounce back with enthusiasm.

Determined: Persistence and determination need to be the second nature of a sales person. There are innumerable obstacles that come along and it is the determined person who refuses to accept defeat and goes on to attain what he wants. He should be a go-getter, never losing sight of the targets for the month and the goal that he has planned for himself.

Visionary: Successful sales people value the relationship with customers and maintain a long-term relationship with them through regular follow-ups. They understand the bigger picture and view each sale as a stepping stone towards earning the goodwill of their customers who could provide valuable referrals to future prospects. They don’t think of today and just one sale, but plan on a long-term basis.

Friendly: Sales people need to have a personality that is amicable so that people are comfortable talking to them. They ask the right questions to understand the business situation of their customers and their buying needs. They put their prospects at ease and listen to their requirements and suitably amend their sales speech to make it more relevant for their prospects.

Accountable: Another important trait of a successful sales person is that they are accountable for themselves, their customers and their organization. They are more forthcoming in accepting their mistakes and correcting them in future without resorting to a blame-game. They behave responsibly, being answerable to both the customers and to the organization they represent for their decisions.

Optimistic: Only an optimistic person can be a successful sales person. Having a positive attitude does not just mean that a person looks at the bright side of things. It also means that an individual consciously chooses to see new opportunities even in the worst situations. Facing a setback is quite normal for a sales person and an optimist learns from these experiences and effectively uses them in future.