What Salespeople Can Learn From Different Professions

What Salespeople Can Learn From Different Professions
11/15/2014
Updated:
4/23/2016

Sales sometimes can be a tedious process with copious amounts of following up among other things. Salespeople should break down each of their processes and look to other professions to see what they could learn about this certain area of sales. Recently, I have been reading about companies doing this more and more because their sales have dipped a bit. Companies also have training programs which consist of activities and reading that each person entering the sales field has to complete before heading into the field. The times of throwing salespeople into the field to see if they survive are over, the “you either have it or you don’t” approach to sales is also over. The future of sales is detailed training so your sales people are ready for anything.

Athletes

Sales is a grind which is saying it lightly, the everyday rejection that most salespeople face can start to wear a person down. This is where your sales team should act like a team and try to bring the person struggling up or even offer advice. This is something that athletes in all sports do when a teammate just doesn’t seem to be hitting the mark. Looking at professional athletes, they try to improve on a daily basis through new training techniques and grinding out hours upon hours of practice. Even the best athletes in the world still train at their highest capacity. Having your sales team do these type of things is a great thing, having even your best people in sales trying new techniques and constantly developing to make themselves even a little bit better is something to strive for. Athletes know this and that is why they make great salespeople.

Skip Tracers

Finding information on a customer or future customer becomes one of the more difficult things to do especially if they keep their information very private. This is where Skip Tracers should be looked upon because their skills are just that, finding those who cannot seem to be found. Skip tracers use different methods to find a missing person for any variety of reasons. They implement the use of many different tactics with technology and different databases to get even the smallest amount of info that will help them find a person. In this way, when building your lead funnel, giving up after not finding a person within a couple of minutes could cost you a lifetime worth of sales. The relentless approach of skip tracers and their ability to attain information should mimicked when doing sales.

Accountants

Sometimes sales can get a bit monotonous and you feel like you are going through the same processes over and over. Accountants fight the same feeling but have to stay focused because their job is so detail oriented. Being able to keep a laser focus during the times when you are not as pumped up as you can be and you are tired is integral in your success. A salesperson never knows when they are going to make the sale of a lifetime so staying focused in incredibly important. Weller & Zimaro chartered accountants are a great example of this, after years of experience they are still focused and passionate about their work and saving your money.

Counselor 

Being able to get to know your customer is quite an important thing, this can mean the difference between a customer leaving for another company or staying with your company for years to come. The fact that counselors can find the pain point of a person is something that a person in sales could learn. Finding the pain point of a customer when it came to their previous service provider allows you to touch on that then make the promise that they will not have that problem with your company. Many customers also like to vent so pitching them during a time when they are angry or flustered is a bad idea. Reading a customer like a counselor or psychologist is important to making a sale.

Dentists

Dentist offices are not everyone’s favorite place to visit but the way that the dentist treats you when you come in calms your nerves. The parallel with sales is that the calming influence that great dentists have on certain people is important in the fact that you are more like to purchase something from somebody who you trust and are confident in. Dentists like H. Peter Ku DDS PA have a calming influence because of their education and background. The more titles in your position the more that a person tend to trust that you know what you are doing.

As you can see, there are many different professions that you can learn from when perfecting your sales process. Doing things outside the norm can sometimes be very rewarding in a personal capacity as well as a professional capacity. Model yourself after the best in a process you are doing rather than just the best at selling.

Tommy was a former college swimmer at the University of North Carolina. During this time, Tommy had a lot of time staring at the bottom of the pool and coming up with some great and not so great ideas. Email Tommy at [email protected]
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