“Dear Mom, I wanted to thank you for all the great sales lessons you taught me growing up. You may not have known, but you were priming me for a career in sales since the very beginning.”
Here are seven sales lessons I learned from my mother – and I’m pretty sure she didn’t even realize it:
1.“Don’t stay up too late.”
It’s been shown that a lack of sleep causes a drop in productivity at work. Mom knew sleep was important way before Arianna Huffington started talking about it so much!
2.“If it were a snake, it would have bitten you.”
Many times there are sales opportunities right in front of me, and I don’t even recognize it. I come in contact with potential prospects every day. All I have to do is open my eyes and actually look for them.
3.“I’m doing this for your own good.”
Especially after learning the Sandler Selling System, I understand I often have to do or say something that may not seem like it’s what the prospect wants, but I have to bring it up anyway, because “it’s for their own good.”
4.“Now, say you’re sorry…and MEAN it!”
Sometimes, I screw up. Whether I overpromised and under delivered, or something just went wrong, the best thing to do is to own up to it – say I’m sorry – and really MEAN it, not just apologize to get out of a difficult situation.
5.“You could have called.”
All mom wanted (and still wants, in fact) is to get a call, to know and feel like she’s loved. The same goes for my prospects and customers. They want to know what’s going on; they want to get an update; they want to know they are on my mind.
6.“Pick up your feet.”
Dragging your feet in sales is a surefire way to fail. I now know it’s all about the behaviors. When I do the behaviors (not dragging my feet, but picking them up and moving them!), the attitude and results will follow.
7.“Close the door. You don’t live in a barn.”
There comes a time when every deal needs to move forward or be closed. Nothing good comes from an “open door” in a sales process; it lingers, it teases, it frustrates. At Sandler, we call it “closing the file,” but the same concept applies…don’t leave it open; you don’t live in a barn!
My mom taught me all kinds of things; but when it comes to sales, I’m grateful for these seven particular lessons. Who knew mom was a sales training expert?!? I might need to sign her up to teach this stuff now!
What About You? Does your business or sales team need to apply these sales lessons from mom? We’d love to help. Give us a call at 330-929-9449 or shoot an email to therubygroup@sandler.com.
You might also be interested in:
