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I was recently speaking with an extremely successful executive (he asked to remain anonymous) who is known for being able to walk into an organization, clear away all the clutter and nonsense, and make them extremely successful. He boiled his process down to four keys which can also be applied to successful selling.

Key #1: Simplicity

The formula for success in sales really is simple. It comes down to talking to enough of the right people the right way. That means talking to plenty of qualified prospects and having the skills necessary to find a problem, solve the problem, and get them to take action on the solution.

Where people complicate the issue is when they start looking for the shortcut, the simpler, easier way. There isn’t one. Hiding behind social media, e-mail, and reactive marketing will never take the place of in-person calls and phone calls. Set your annual, monthly and weekly goals, and then calculate your daily activity (how many people you need to talk to). From there, practice and prepare for all sales situations and scenarios. Finally, get out there and make the contacts necessary. As a salesperson, producer, agent, or whatever you call yourself, your first job is to sell. Everything else is just a distraction. Simple.

Key #2: Innovation

Innovation is all about value and standing out from the rest of the pack. How do you deliver more, how are you better, and how are you different in a good way? Just as important, how can you deliver more, how can you be better, and how can you be different in a good way? Where are you, your company, and your product truly unique and how can you further adapt, change, improve, and stand out (deliver more value)?

Of course this begins with you. You are the one thing the competition does not have. If you are willing to out-service, out-work, and out-relationship the competition, you will stand out. How can you personally deliver more value? It can start with handwritten thank-you notes and gifts to let people know they are appreciated. It can include adding products and services, or augmenting them. You can also add hours of operation, be more responsive, or add features such as home delivery. You’re looking for anything that enhances and improves the client experience. Anything that better meets the needs, wants and desires of the client.

Innovation also means not resting on your laurels and realizing that what has made you successful thus far may not be what makes you successful in the future. This is challenging the old rule of “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” by improving further on what already works. It’s refusing to say, “This is the way we’ve always done it” and “That’s good enough.” It’s asking questions such as:

• “How can we bring something completely new to the industry?”
• “How can we turn the standard way of doing business on its ear?”
• “How can we reinvent the wheel and make it better?”
• Bottom line: what can you do to further stand out and deliver more value?

Key #3: Passion

Successful people at the highest levels are the most passionate about what they are doing. For many, their work is not work, it’s love, they’d do it for free. Passion is all about the personal why. It is the deep-rooted reason you work crazy hours, persist through failure after failure, and keep getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down. Ideally that passion comes from helping clients, a strong belief that people want and need your product, and enthusiasm about the personal life that sales allows you to live.

For most people, the personal why is the strongest. This usually includes either proving something to yourself and others, acquiring money and possessions that give you feelings of fulfillment and help you reach your highest life values such as freedom, helping and contributing to the important people in your life such as your kids, parents and friends, or a combination of all three. In many older clients I’ve also seen a passion to get out and help new customers knowing that their years of experience put them in a unique position to “save” others. Still other people may have a passion for meeting new people and making new friends. Others have such a belief in their product they seem to have a save-the-world mentality.

Whatever your passion is, it is the fuel that will drive you and keep you going. If strong enough, it will get you up early, keep you up late, and give you tons of energy. In order to find it you have to ask yourself what’s important to you in life. What will you fight for or die for? What are your most important values? What do you care most about? Once you know what those deep, emotional drivers are, the next step is to tie those to going out and selling your product or service.

Key #4: Execution

This is all about taking action. Getting out there and doing what needs to be done. Nike. “Just do it.” Once you know what you want to do and why you’re doing it, put a quick plan together and take action on it. Don’t make it a big complicated plan, again, think simple. Then execute on the plan as soon as possible. Don’t worry about it being perfect either. Just take action and then course correct as you go. Generally speaking, the more action you take, the faster you’ll get to success.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].