As a sales trainer, I'm often asked by trainees, 'Teacher, how can I cultivate myself into a sales master?' After being asked this repeatedly, I began to ponder: how are sales masters made, and what distinguishes them from ordinary salespeople?
Sales masters need strong ambition. First, I believe that trainees who ask this question already possess the potential to become sales masters. Why? Because they have a strong desire for success. No matter what job you do, only those with a burning desire for success are more likely to achieve it. If you don't even think about success and are content with the status quo, how can you succeed? As the saying goes, 'A soldier who doesn't aspire to be a general is not a good soldier.' I fully agree with this. In my sales classes, I've shared stories of many sales masters, such as Hu Minxia from Opp Lighting, Ma Xiao from TATA Wooden Doors, and Wang Bao from Guosen Furniture. I also urge my students: 'I hope you can continuously surpass yourselves, share your classic sales cases, and next time you might appear in my course.' A teacher can only plant a seed in students' minds; the fate of that seed is unpredictable. Some seeds may take root and grow, but most will be buried, either lacking soil or blown away by the wind. From this perspective, sales masters first need strong ambition; without it, one cannot excel in sales.
Sales masters have stronger resilience to pressure. 'Customers may mistreat me a thousand times, but I treat them as my first love.' Come on, let's repeat this three times together. Many salespeople can recite this by heart, but very few actually practice it. Even if customers don't reject us a thousand times, many give up after just one rejection. For example, if a customer says, 'I need to think it over,' what do you think? Some salespeople might say the customer isn't in a hurry, wants to compare prices, or can't decide alone. Wait a moment—something seems off. What's the problem? You'll find that when we analyze this, we attribute all problems to the customer, not ourselves. Why not consider whether our product introduction was unprofessional, causing hesitation, or whether our lack of rapport made the customer reluctant to buy from us? It's our mindset that's flawed. When faced with rejection, we often find a convenient excuse to comfort ourselves, saying it's not our fault, and if we find the customer's real issue, they'll buy. Sales masters, on the other hand, look for the cause within themselves: what did I do inadequately that made the customer hesitate? Sales masters have stronger resilience; they not only understand and analyze customers correctly but also manage their emotions well. While an ordinary salesperson is sulking over a lost deal, a sales master calmly and rationally analyzes where the problem lies. To put it bluntly, sales masters have no time to manage their emotions, just like a trained soldier on the battlefield, where the world is only filled with the roar of artillery.
Sales masters are more diligent than ordinary salespeople. Different understandings of sales work lead to vastly different results. Ordinary salespeople tend to spend more time learning sales techniques, hoping to acquire more powerful sales weapons and take shortcuts to closing deals. Sales masters, however, spend more time on customer development and maintenance because they not only understand the importance of patience and persistence with each customer but also know that outstanding performance comes from the continuous accumulation of more potential customers. The word 'diligence' might seem odd when applied to sales masters, because in the eyes of ordinary salespeople, sales masters have outstanding traits, and their excellent communication and negotiation skills are the key to achieving performance. In fact, diligence is the most simple and distinctive trait of many sales masters. As the saying goes, 'A minute on stage requires ten years of practice off stage.' When ordinary salespeople are off work, scrolling through WeChat, dining out, binge-watching shows, or playing cards, sales masters are organizing customer files, following up with customers, reading, and learning. This relates to the concept of 'Circle of Concern' and 'Circle of Influence' in Stephen Covey's 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.' When you spend more time on things you can control (Circle of Influence), you get closer to success. Conversely, when you spend more time on things you can only worry about (Circle of Concern), you not only move further from success but also waste time and life.
Sales masters are better at continuous summarization and improvement. In every training class, I notice a phenomenon: if the company doesn't provide student manuals, an awkward situation arises—many trainees don't bring paper or pens. They're not there to listen but to watch a show. Of course, a few trainees bring their own notebooks to take notes, regardless of whether the company provides them. From this detail, I can tell who the sales masters are. If a trainee doesn't prepare before a class, do you think they'll prepare more when meeting customers? For customers who didn't close, I believe most salespeople will think about what they did wrong. If you can't even do that, I advise you not to be in sales. Sales masters analyze not only failed sales cases but also successful ones. Even if a deal succeeds, they ask: Was it due to my professionalism or luck? Could the closing speed be faster? Could the deal amount be larger? Only by continuously analyzing and summarizing every sales order can you discover your shortcomings and improve, and find more sales opportunities. Writing a sales diary is a work habit of sales masters; it's used to analyze and summarize sales issues.
Sales masters learn from everyone around them at all times. Whether you're in sales or not, if you want to do something well and to the extreme, being 'obsessive' is crucial. John D. Rockefeller once wrote a book called 'Only the Paranoid Survive,' and I think this title is particularly apt for sales work. When a customer says, 'Your price is too high, what should we do?' Many salespeople will take this question and search for answers, then hear so-called 'correct solutions' from books or classes, like 'emphasize product value,' 'use 'and' instead of 'but',' 'price allocation method,' etc. Are these approaches correct? Yes, but far from sufficient. Because when you use these scripts, you'll find customers don't buy it. First, your answer might be completely off from the customer's real reason. Second, in the Internet+ era, information is highly transparent; customers have already heard these methods and are immune. Being half-informed and not seeking truth is the state of ordinary salespeople: they hear something and think they've learned it. Sales masters, however, ask a follow-up question: 'Why does the customer raise this objection?' When you think along this line, you'll find there are many reasons why customers say it's expensive. Only by finding the root cause can you prescribe the right remedy. Sales masters never easily let go of the many problems encountered in sales; they learn from everyone around them with these questions. Sales masters are among the people; the more you learn, the faster you progress.
Can sales masters be replicated? Regarding this question, Teacher Li Zhijiang believes that sales requires both diligence and a certain amount of talent. Becoming a top sales master is not easy, but making today's self better than yesterday's is relatively not difficult. Therefore, as long as you persist in continuous improvement every day and cultivate good work habits, your sales performance will definitely get better and better.
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