James Olsen owns Reality Sales Training, realitysalestraining.com

Sales is a transfer of emotion. If we are nervous, our customer will be nervous. If we are aggressive, which means we don’t really care, we are just there for the order, our customers will be defensive. When we are calm and prepared, our customers will have a sense of calm and will be open to our suggestions. Easier said than done. The sales process is emotional. In addition to the sales process, in the power equipment industry we have a market that moves, sometimes dramatically. This movement can affect our income. We do not have control of the market, which causes its own type of anxiety.

Preparation is Key

As simple as this seems, most sellers are not prepared. When we are not prepared, we don’t bring value. Our customers are busy. If we don’t bring them value, we are wasting their time. Time is money, so an unprepared salespeople are stealing money from their potential customers. How do you treat someone who is stealing from you?

When we are prepared with ideas and products that make money for our customers, they will give us their attention. This does not mean that we get the order every time, but we will get a fair chance at their business.

Unreasonable Customers

Some customers are bullies. Some are whiners and complainers. Some have unreasonable demands. Emotional control is important with these types of customers. Unreasonable customers are great! Why? Because they keep our competition away.

With these types of customers, we stay calm. We don’t jump on the emotional roller coaster with them. Nor are we intimidated. We know we can help them, so we are patient and unperturbed by their antics and stay the sales course.

Getting Orders

As weird as it seems, it important that we stay on course after getting the business. It’s fine to celebrate a victory, briefly, but then we need to get back on the horse and keep selling. When I got an order as a young salesperson, I would be so emotionally excited, I couldn’t focus for the rest of the day. I remember saying to a master seller, “Hey, I just go an order!!!” He deadpanned, “Great. Now go get another.”

Losing Customers

The majority of sellers do not prospect enough. They prospect for the first couple years, build an account box, then only prospect when they lose accounts. Master sellers are always upgrading their account box. If we don’t prospect our accounts own us. Good luck winning a negotiation will a customer who owns you. Master sellers are free partners with their customers.

Emotional Self-Talk

Our subconscious does not know the difference between the truth and what we tell it. Great sellers are the ruler of their own world. We must tell ourselves that we are great. This is not bragging: It’s psyching up for the challenge we face every day, on every call.