The Visual8

There are no college degrees for selling. There are no regulatory bodies either.

And yet it is one of the most financially rewarding jobs. It is a profession that accumulates momentum the longer you do it.

The more challenging the situation, the more you earn. Because the stakes are higher.

Sellers grow from simple transactions early in their career to complex deals that punctuate their resume.

The ones that stand apart have common characteristics. These power moves come to them naturally. However, they are also skills we can build, too, even if we never take on that role.

Here are six of them you should put in your repertoire even if you are not selling.

1. Hustle as if your life depended on it

Time is the enemy of success in sales. The longer it takes, the less likely the sale will complete.

It might be the psychology of the organization: that if we can live without it today, we can live without it forever.

Great sellers keep the ball in motion. If there is a call for more information by the buyer, it’s shared immediately. Little to no latency.

If this was a game of ping-pong, the little white ball would defy the laws of physics. It would spend greater than 50% of the time on the customer’s side of the net.

This also impacts internal meetings. They last only as long as needed. Get to the point, because there is a lot to chase outside of this call.

2. Begin with the end-in-mind, every time

The buying process is really a set of decisions. One after the other.

A great seller keeps the big picture in mind while working each tactical turn. They are mindful that every meeting is a means to get to a decision.  Even if it is decision is to have another meeting.

One which expands the number who join the pool of understanding.

Powerful sellers will announce the purpose right up front. No hidden agenda.

You may be surprised how well this goes over with people on the other side of the table.

This mindset is more than how to run meetings. It’s how to greet each day.

3. Cultivate relationships

Who you know is a lot more important than what you know. That’s because you cannot be everywhere. And you cannot know everything.

When you activate your network, you bring the right expertise to the situation. This is useful during the sales campaign and after the sale completes.

For example, when a product or service does not deliver as expected, then your experts turn panic into a plan.

These are relationships go beyond the role you are currently in. They are ones engaged far into the future. So long as they are nurtured.

Tend to the network as you tend to the garden. Prune back the old to plant the new. Feed it with food and sunshine. Give it attention and give it patience.

Seasoned sales people are difficult to replace. Their relationship capital goes with them.

Company leaders may think that their products “sell themselves”. But that is only narrowly true.

4. Path-finding is better than positivity

Positivity is a belief that it’s all going to work out. That there is beauty in a stormy day.

That after one hundred “no’s” there will be a single “yes”. It lights the lamp in the dark night of cold calls.

But that is not the power move. The power move is to find a better path.

Selling newspaper subscriptions? Go to the registrar to see who recently moved or got married. Sales conversions rise when people are new to the area.

Path-finding is navigating the jungle of opinions, agendas, and invisible social contracts of those involved. A good sales person connects what’s important for each player in a way that makes sense for all.

The key is to look at the situation from multiple angles. To spin the puzzle pieces around and see if they fit in new ways.

5. Horse-trading turns an impasse into a final agreement

The last mile of deal-making is mapping the non-negotiables on one side to possibilities on the other. We sense that giving up a position comes with a cost. And there needs to be a realized benefit in return.

In a place that we care about. As much or more than what we are giving up.

For example, are you willing to take a slower delivery if the price is lower? This is a case of trading time for money.

Do you want to add expertise on your team from some place elsewhere in the organization? Then who from your team may serve the leader that has that precious resource?

This is trades capacity for diversity.

To be great at this you have to know what is important on both sides. This takes a curious mind and carefully crafted questions.

Then when the moment is right, great sellers move to close on the final agreement.

6. Keep everyone accountable

Too often we make agreements in the moment and then don’t follow up. It’s hardly ever about our intention. It’s about our attention.

Events following the agreement create new distractions. And then the original commitment fails because it falls out of the window of awareness.

A great seller keeps the ledger of those commitments. They routinely check-in on progress. This brings up to mind what each have promised.

The push for accountability has no bounds.

It’s something to do with the entire core team. With the executives who volunteer support. With the customers themselves.

All done so without any hierarchical authority.

Accountability is the grease that keeps the engine from seizing.

You may never aspire to be a sales professional, but there is no reason why you cannot adopt their best practices.

If you are a plumber, your hustle will earn the respect of your clients and move you onto more referrals.

If you are in HR, then your business partners will appreciate your sense of moving with their end-in-mind.

If you a product engineer, then your relationships with sales people will ensure that what you build is what customers want.

If you are in accounting, then path-finding closes the gap where business stakeholders demand something unreasonable.

If you are in marketing, then horse-trading may earn you a testimonial from a buyer if you point the spotlight back to them for their own prestige.

If you have a lawn care service, then keeping the crew accountable eliminates rework and poor customer reviews.

It works wherever you work.

Your invitation right now is to find a great seller.

Ask them how they apply these 6 key principles in their day-to-day.

Then visualize yourself doing those things in your day-to-day.

This is how change begins.