The latest data shows that selling is, in fact, a learned skill and not something that people are just born with. Be sure to download Marc's incredible e-book on "25 Tips to Crush Your Sales Goal!" Just go here to get the e-book instantly: www.marcwayshak.com/opt1/
Let me repeat that, sales is a skill, it's not just something that you're either born great at, or you're born not great it, it's something that just like learning any other skill, you need to develop. In this video, I'm going to show you seven keys to transforming your sales skills.
Number one, follow a data-driven approach. There are so many gurus out there who I see on KZfaq and all different places that are sharing the secret to closing the sale. Yet, so many of them are just using outdated ideas that maybe worked 10, 20, even 30 years ago, but in today's world of selling, so many of those strategies don't work. And yet at the same time, there are troves of data out there now, available to us, where we can now understand what is working at every phase of the sale.
Number two, read or listen to one sales book each month. Now you may be someone who loves to read books, or you may be more of an Audible, I was about to say books on tape, it doesn't matter what the medium is but you want to be consistently consuming at least a sales book every month. This is something that I've been doing for my entire career, and it has led me so much further along to ensure that I'm always on the cutting edge of what's working.
Number three, execute new ideas. I almost gave the thought away just a second ago, but you want to, of course, be continually sharpening your saw, learning new skills, but you also need to execute those ideas. I find that one of the biggest differentiators between top sales performers and everyone else is their ability to implement new ideas consistently.
Number four, map out your entire sales process. The absolute best salespeople know the entire sales process from beginning to end. Let me ask you a question when you went to school, did you learn about how to sell? Did you learn about sales? Maybe you even got an MBA, did you learn about sales in your MBA? I got an MBA, and I learned nothing about selling in that entire program. We, as a profession, get very little practical and tactical training to become sales professionals, and so as a result, most salespeople are just winging the sales process.
Number five, use a prospecting blueprint. If you've got a prospecting blueprint, which is the entire plan of exactly what you're doing at each phase of contacting a prospect, you're going to be so much more successful, and you're going to get so many more leads into your funnel. So what you want to do is, just like earlier, I said map out your sales process, you also want to map out your entire prospecting process.
Number six, learn one thing every single day. Now you can see a theme in this video where I've been focused on consistently sharpening your saw. And that's how you develop your sales skills, that's how you transform your sales skills, is that every single day you learn just one thing. This comes from my father; he always used to tell me, "Mark, you want to learn one thing every single day "for the rest of your life."
Number seven, find meaning in selling. You know my good friend, Lisa Earle Mcleod, who wrote the book, "Selling With Noble Purpose," talks about in her fantastic book by the way, which should be one of the books that we read, talk about how we as salespeople, have one of the highest callings, professionally. We are really helping the people that we're closing, we're helping the people that we're selling too, and so the more we can find meaning in what we're doing when we're selling on a day-to-day basis, the more we're going to love what we do and the more we're going to want to continue to sharpen our skills.
There the seven keys to transform your sales skills. And if you enjoyed this video then I have an awesome free training on the data-driven approach to help you crush your sales goals, click right here to get registered instantly.