Click the image to register for participation. Where you spend your time, there your results will be. If you abandon time, time will also abandon you.

When you see others succeed, you say they are lucky; When they fail, you say they didn't work hard. When you succeed, you say it's the result of your own efforts; If you fail, you self-deprecatingly say it's all the environment's fault.

The above was said by a netizen; I'm not sure if it's right or wrong?

In sales, the biggest fear is constantly thinking about how to 'change others'!

"Know yourself" is one of the famous maxims inscribed on the stone pillars of the Temple of Apollo in ancient Greece. According to records, someone asked Socrates: "What is the most difficult thing in the world?" He replied: "Know yourself."

1. Knowledge Whether sales can be done well has no absolute relationship with education level. Because sales is an ability, and ability does not fully represent education. No one has ever said that only top students can do sales well; those with less education cannot do sales well. So, what knowledge do salespeople actually need to do sales well? Ask different people, and you get different answers. In a thousand people's eyes, there are a thousand Hamlets.

1. Product Knowledge No matter what product you sell, this doesn't change: you need to fully understand your product knowledge. Take my mobile phone industry, for example: look at the product PPT and promotional brochures, combined with the company's product training, and understanding product knowledge is not a big problem. For a salesperson, if you only have a smattering of knowledge about your product, you simply cannot do sales well. Such salespeople have a characteristic: as soon as they meet a customer, they start bluffing and spinning tall tales, because such people have no real talent, no substance, and bluffing is their survival tactic. Once the bluff fails, they immediately switch to another company and start bluffing again.

2. Industry Knowledge Absorbing industry knowledge best highlights a person's curiosity about things. People lacking curiosity cannot do creative work. Curiosity also shows whether a person wants to establish a foothold in this industry. For example, if you sell mobile phones, you need to understand the development of mobile phone brands in the market, the product characteristics of each brand, market positioning, main consumer groups, and the past and present of each brand, and be able to talk about them vividly.

3. Industry Dynamics For example, which brand has launched a new product, which brand has entered the mobile phone industry, which brand has found a new gimmick, and new technologies and functions in mobile phones, such as the current artificial intelligence AR/AI—you need to know all of these. I suggest you subscribe to Toutiao and NetEase technology news, browse them during your free time every day, and accumulate knowledge bit by bit. By the way, this is also a free ad for these two apps.

4. Competitor Knowledge This is especially important. You must understand knowledge about competing brands. Why? What does competitor knowledge include? You must deeply understand the brands in your area, including: price systems, product portfolios, inventory management, sales policies, etc. This is the core topic for communication and negotiation with customers and consumers, and it is also a bargaining chip in sales business. During communication with customers, it's inevitable to talk about other brands' products. If the customer mentions a feature of another brand's product and you know nothing, you're in the dark, lacking interaction with the customer. The customer knows more about the market than you and is more professional. Customers are old hands in the industry; they will immediately think you are an industry illiterate, and your personal strength will plummet in their eyes. Why would a customer cooperate with an illiterate? Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. You understand this principle without me saying it, right? So, you need to know the product characteristics of competing brands and the pros and cons compared to your own products by heart, to the point where you can blurt them out without hesitation!

5. Customer Knowledge This is the type of knowledge that many sales colleagues most easily overlook. Customer knowledge is very important. Why do I say that? Although you sell products, let me ask you: who sells the manufacturer's products? The manufacturer can't just set up a stall on the street, right? In the end, isn't it the customer who helps you sell? So, the importance of customer knowledge is self-evident.

What does customer knowledge include? First, the customer company's organizational structure and functions Inside the customer company, this includes: organizational structure, personnel allocation, employee system, salary system, etc. This is especially important. In plain terms, you need to know the internal situation of the customer company very clearly. Once you cooperate with a customer, you will often deal with them. If you don't understand these things, you'll dive in blindly and end up in a mess. Sometimes, during cooperation, these things can provide you with many ideas and thoughts.

Second, the customer company's development history In plain terms, it's the boss's story of how he made his fortune. Nowadays, people like to package it as an "entrepreneurial history," but it's the same thing. Find out who the founding members who started the business with the boss are, who the boss trusts most, and who often carries the boss's bag and pours tea.

Third, family relationships The role of the boss's wife cannot be ignored. Some boss's wives are like rulers behind a curtain, staying behind the scenes and controlling remotely. On the surface, they don't manage company affairs, but sometimes, the wife's advisory power is greater than the decision-making power. Find out how the wife cooperated with the boss to build wealth, how old their children are now, and what jobs they do. If it's a family business, it's even more important to understand the internal relationship network of the family to avoid letting you down at critical moments.

Fourth, lifestyle habits What are the hobbies and interests of the boss and his wife? For example: fitness, drinking, singing, cultural artifacts, etc. Having the same interests as the customer is also an important factor in promoting cooperation. What are their eating habits? You can't avoid treating them to meals and toasting.

2. Attitude If a salesperson's attitude is not correct, in the final analysis, it comes down to complaining and laziness. These four characters are the Achilles' heel of salespeople. Go to KFC and complain there's no noodles. Go to Lanzhou Lamian and complain there's no ketchup. Actually, people in sales have too many things to complain about; you can't finish in a day. If you add a glass of wine, you can complain until the sky turns dark.

Complaining and grumbling are two different things. In life and work, it's hard to avoid a few grumbles; that's just simple complaining. After downing a glass of wine, you turn around and get back into the heat of battle. People are emotional animals, not robots. Actually, complaining is also a form of communication. A person's simple complaints are also a transformation of inner venting. When you say what's on your mind and spit it out, you immediately feel light and enter a spring-like state of mind. If you keep complaints bottled up inside, it can lead to passive work at best, or at worst, make you sick, and eventually turn into depression. Try it if you don't believe me. If you walk around with a gloomy face all day, complaining about this and that, over time it becomes a character flaw. At best, you can't adapt to the company; at worst, it's hard to adapt to society. People live in a world of reciprocity. How you treat life, life will treat you; how you treat others, others will treat you. Of course, I'm not saying you should pour out your grievances at the company. The target of your complaints is very important. If you score 50 on a test and complain to someone with a similar score, that's birds of a feather flocking together. You should find someone who is progressive and positive, find a quiet and suitable place, have a cup of coffee, and briefly chat. Because the other person will guide you, encourage you, and help you turn danger into safety. A true friend doesn't just listen to your complaints but guides you to see through the clouds and re-understand the world. Let me share with you: on Zhihu, what is the standard for making friends? A wise man who has left the world, a strong man who has entered the world, or a normal and sunny ordinary person. The positive result of complaining is mutual encouragement, not being birds of a feather. Otherwise, it leads to grumbling, which is an upgraded version of complaining, usually a group event, and that's the last thing managers want to see.

Now let's talk about laziness in sales. In frontline sales, 80% of problems are caused by laziness. So we say, in sales, all evils stem from laziness! Sales is actually a physical job. Every salesperson has a responsible regional market, running to customers and stores every day. This physical strength is your two legs. The market is built step by step. No matter how awesome your IT management tools are, they can't overturn this fact! Visit rate issues, display issues, inventory issues, price issues, etc., in the final analysis, are because you've been "lazy" in the office for too long, causing chaos in the external market. In frontline sales, whether the most basic work is done solidly is the best measure of whether a salesperson is lazy! If you're out in the market every day, running like a "patrolman," communicating with customers about sales issues. Not to mention the long term, just try persisting for a year. If the market doesn't flourish, that would be a miracle. Speaking of this, the laziness of frontline salespeople is actually cultivated by sales managers. Big laziness infects small laziness, and in the end, everyone is lazy together. Some sales managers might say, "I require salespeople to be in the market every day; that's no problem!" Here I want to say, salespeople being in the market every day does not mean they are running the market or visiting customers! Being in the market is just a change of space; Running the market and visiting customers is specific work; How to ensure the quality of this work is your management method. Actually, salespeople prefer being in the market to being in the office. Outside, the sky is high and the emperor is far away; they can wander around, and you can't see or catch them! If a sales manager only focuses on results and ignores the process, then your team will definitely breed "lazy bugs."

3. Skills Some salespeople, when they hear the word "skills," immediately say, "No one taught me this!" People who talk like that are just "lazy goods" making excuses! Salespeople's work skills are not just taught; they are practiced by yourself! Don't keep saying no one taught you! In the workplace, it's normal for others not to teach you. Because everyone only gets their own salary, why should others teach you? From childhood to university graduation, teachers taught you at school because you paid tuition; When you enter the workplace, not only do you not pay tuition, but the boss also pays you a salary. Why would they teach you? Most people in sales carry this prejudice: They think sales performance depends on the quality of the product and the customer's choice. Isn't that nonsense? What skills do salespeople actually need? Let's not even talk about sales skills in different industries; there are so many skills that could fill a book. I divide salesperson skills into: soft skills and hard skills For soft skills, I'll talk about the most basic ones. If you learn the most basic skills well, then learn advanced ones, your foundation must be solid! The most basic soft skill is the skill of dealing with people! This is the most basic skill in all sales industries! Speaking of this, someone will surely say: "I thought you had some awesome skill. What's dealing with people? Isn't it just chatting? Who can't do that? It's no big deal!" The simpler the thing, the more complex the logic behind it! If you can turn simple things into not-so-simple things, then you are truly not simple. Sales is not a one-person affair; it's inseparable from dealing with others. The highest level of dealing with people is: you have things to talk about with customers, customers like chatting with you, and you can put your thoughts into the customer's head! Do you think reaching this highest level is simple? Hard skills are the business skills of the job. These skills, to a large extent, are "soaked" in the market. Unless your cerebellum is indeed underdeveloped, I can't help it. When learning hard skills, don't think they are profound and unfathomable. I'll say it again: sales work has no core technology, let alone cutting-edge technology! Don't listen to those old hands in the industry who make it sound mysterious, as if they really "master core technology." For learning hard sales skills, first, you need to take one step at a time, with the spirit of digging a well, not changing ground until you hit water. Based on this, let me share a method: Whatever you lack, find the best person in this area, follow them every day to learn, stay humble and diligent, keep your mind sharp, and that's all. So, learn from excellent people, make friends with excellent people, and it can help you avoid detours. Learn N times, summarize N+5 times, practice N+10 times! Persist for a year and see! In this era of knowledge flooding, many times we don't lack learning but practice. Knowledge changes destiny, that's right! But knowledge must be transformed into practice to change destiny.

4. Management The "management" I talk about here is not management by managers, but salespeople's "self-management," managing their own time and emotions. Many salespeople never pay attention to managing their own time. It's not that everyone is muddling through work, like a monk ringing the bell day by day. Time, regardless of status, is equal to everyone because everyone has 24 hours a day! How to use and allocate these 24 hours well is a science, and it also shows a salesperson's self-management. In the workplace, there's a saying: "Eight hours for survival, eight hours for development." I'll add one more: eight hours for good sleep! Over the years, I've often observed how salespeople arrange their time after work.

  1. Some, after work, whether accompanying customers or friends, are always around the dinner table! What you get:
  2. Your own heavy drinking, young as you are, your health is flashing red, and you suffer from your own illness.
  3. Drinking table jokes accumulate over time and emerge endlessly. You meet many people at the drinking table, but those with interests are not very useful.
  4. Going home after work, playing games, watching entertainment shows, crying over melodramas, and before you know it, it's midnight. You scroll through your Moments and go to sleep. The next day, you wake up and imitate the fashion from the melodrama to dress yourself. For the above four situations, they still say, "I'm so busy every day, where do I have time to recharge!" In fact, there is no time that can't be arranged; only people who don't arrange their time. I just want to say: Where you spend your time, there your results will be. If you abandon time, time will also abandon you. I'm not saying that as soon as you get off work, you bury yourself in study, entering the state of the college entrance exam. In sales, you still need to have necessary social engagements. But don't overdo it; you decide the specifics. Some salespeople, you see them busy all day, always having endless things to do, lacking work plans and time management, and in the end, they don't do their work well. They scold for spending an extra yuan on a pack of cigarettes but don't feel heartache for wasting a day. What is your ideal? People who manage time well do less rather than more. It's not that doing more means you can do it well; you should spend time on the most important things. Salespeople's emotions fluctuate greatly, hovering over performance highs and lows every day. When sales performance is in a continuous slump, some begin to question their bad luck or bad fortune, deny their abilities, and their brain thinking becomes "I can't do it." I suggest that while enduring pressure, you should also appropriately relax your mood.

Source: Jianshu