5 Specific Things You Can Control in Sales

I posted back in March to Focus on things you can control.

Here are five specific things you can control that should dominate your mind. These aren’t my original thoughts, they are excerpted from Michael Boylan’s The Power to Get In.

1. Your confidence level in the product, service, proposal, or idea you have to offer.
Do you realize how many sales professionals still try to wing it on pure logic and product features? You’ve not only got to know your product or service cold, you’ve got to know how it specifically helps a buyer. Specifically.

Then, you’ve got to be absolutely sold, on a very personal level, that what you offer provides tremendous value–even over and above the cost of the product itself.

2. Your confidence level in yourself.
It’s a shame this one has to be listed. Any given day, any given moment, you’ve got to be able to walk in and talk with any individual with unwavering confidence in yourself. We’re not talking arrogance here, but confidence. You’ve got all the talent you need, all the knowledge and training. Now go act like it, don’ t just think it. You can be kind, caring, compassionate, friendly and understanding…and still be a competitive bulldog. You can be a “people-person” and still be someone people don’t play games with. Believe in yourself.

3. The naturalness of your approach.
Can’t overemphasize this one. Win people over. Be excited to see them. Build connections on legitimate grounds. Smile and be ready to help and serve, not sell. Adapt your approach to the personalities of the people you encounter. Be real. You control whether you’re stiff and boring, or alive and engaging. You can be scripted, or natural. You own it.

4. The level within each organization’s hierarchy at which you choose to enter.
Of course, we all say “aim high.” But really, for most salespeople out there, you simply need to aim high enough. Not every sale requires the CEO’s “buy-in” or “endorsement” to be more of a sure thing. But you need the nod of key influencers with enough clout to carry your proposal through to a “yes.” You decide who you contact first.

5. The specific strategy you develop to get in the door–and how you execute that strategy.
I’ve long felt that, yes, you need to ask the right questions in the right way to develop sales opportunities, but first, you’ve got to get the ball rolling. How you start the process determines if you can even get to the questioning/interviewing at all. You’ve got to get in front of someone first! And again, you can control this!