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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Highincome Seller Behaviors 5 Attitudes A Sales Executive Must Have To Close The Deal

High-Income Seller Behaviors: 5 Attitudes A Sales Executive Must Have To Close The Deal

Read almost any book about sales and you'll see some reference to, "you need to have a good attitude." So what does that mean? Sometimes my most effective selling is when I have a "bad attitude" -- when I'm more discerning and skeptical about whether a prospect has money or is willing to make the change. I get tougher then and force the prospect to fit into my procedure. So for the purpose of this article, I'd like to redefine attitude and not talk about it in terms of good or bad, but instead "what attitudes to have."

1. My value can be found nowhere else.

Most high-income sellers are in the business-to-business environment. And in that atmosphere, you must bring value with your knowledge, experience, and observations in a market. So even though you may sell the same type of solution that another company sells, your solution is enriched by you being in the process. High achievers understand that their products or services are better because of their expertise and wisdom. The elite high-income seller has the attitude of "my total solution brings value because the prospect won't be able to find my value from anyone else."

2. If I want more, I contribute more.

The highest achievers realize something that the average performers don't. If you want to earn more money, you have to contribute more value and solve more problems for your customer. We say in our training, "if you want to make more money, solve bigger problems." So when you work on your quarterly goals, stop working on what you can get out of the market and start working on what you can contribute to the market in terms of value and solutions to problems. Then, when you make a sales call or attend a sales prospect meeting, you won't be a needy, begging sales person. You'll be a contributor at a higher value.

3. There is a never-ending supply of client pain.

The elite sellers--the top one percent--know that even when a market is soft (no budgets) it doesn't mean there's no pain in the customer base. So the high achiever is always focused on the problems that he or she can solve and not focused on the budgets that aren't there. Budgets follow beliefs. If the prospect believes he has a problem and believes it's worth solving, budgets have a way of making an appearance.

4. My baggage doesn't matter.

Let's face the fact that we all have unwanted baggage. That little tinge of fear when we get ready to ask a question that we know we should ask, but some how it just doesn't roll off our tongue. The average performer decides he will wait to ask the question later. The high sales performer doesn't let his baggage get in the way of the right question to ask (or the right comment to make). In a sick sort of way, your baggage gets in the way of your customer getting his problem solved. You don't want to have that on your mind when you go to bed tonight, do you?

5. I am hyper-discerning about my time.

It's easy to say, "be discerning," but with all the distractions and demands on our time, it's hard to execute that attitude. So what do high sales achievers do with their time? In the sales environment they create standards of conduct that they demand from the prospect. If on the first phone call, the prospect doesn't want to share any of the problems they're trying to fix then they have broken the first code of conduct and the high achieving sales executive should move on. If, on the first face-to-face meeting, the prospect refuses to tell how much money this problem costs them to have, then again, they've broken a rule of conduct. The sales executive must move on. Set your code of conduct on what you expect from prospects and don't deviate. That makes it easier for you to 'let go' at the appropriate time.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

How To Raise Your Fees

There is a delicate balance between the fee you need to charge for your products and services, and the fee that people are willing to pay for them. But with gasoline, heating, shipping, health care, and other costs rising, there comes a time when you must raise your rates in order to remain profitable.

Most people see their own costs going up, and won't be surprised that you're raising your fees, too. With proper communication about it, you should be able to raise your fees effortlessly.

Here are some tips on how to go about it:

1. Don't let fear and limiting beliefs stop you from raising your fees. If you hear yourself making excuses that you don't know are true, it's probably your fears and limiting beliefs raising their ugly head. Some of these include, "All my customers will leave if I raise my rates," or "I'm not worth the new rate."

2. Have a clear idea of where your break-even point is, profit wise. No matter how tempting, you cannot make a loss on a sale. In fact, it's not just about what you "need" to make, it should be about what you "want" to make, too.

3. Base your fees on what the benefits and results of using your product or service are worth to your customer. For example, as a small business consultant and coach, I help people make more revenue and profit in their business. This has a value to self employed small business owner, and my fees are based on that value. If you can solve their problems, and if the problem is important enough to solve, then they'll pay you an appropriate fee for that solution.

4. Base your fees for services on your level of expertise. If your expertise level is high, you'll be able to charge higher fees than someone just starting out.

5. Check your competitors. Are there people out there, with your same skill level, charging more than you do?

6. See if your product or service is a "commodity." A commodity is a product or service that is the same, regardless of who is offering it. If you're selling The Little Giant Ladder, it's the same one that your competitors are selling. In commodity pricing, there's not much room for differentiation, and customers will be looking for the lowest price. However, if your product or service is unique, or your skill set and experience are different and better than your competitors, then you can charge more. You'd pay more for Oprah to teach you how to create your own TV show empire than someone you've never heard of. Bargain basement prices often scare off potential customers, especially if they're buying a unique product or service. Use commodity pricing wisely and sparingly.

7. Decide in advance whether you'll raise fees across the board, or only for new customers. Even if you only raise fees for new customers, there may come a time when existing customers will need to have their rates increased, too.

8. Do the 80/20 evaluation. Find the 20% of your customers who bring you the least profit and either raise their rates or get rid of them. This may sound harsh, but you're in business to make a profit and you can't "carry" an unprofitable customer just because you like them.

9. If you will be raising your fees with existing customers, it's a good idea to call them or write a letter, explaining that the fees will be going up to the new rate, and giving them a date when this will happen. I recommend giving them at least a two month notice. Will you lose some customers who aren't willing to pay the higher rate? Yes. But if you do, then you need to ask yourself, "Why hasn't this customer found value in what I'm offering so that the new rate was still acceptable to them?"