We get a lot of emails and requests from our Advanced Selling Podcast listeners about how to break into the profession of selling.

There is no shortage of tips and techniques out there, but here are five things that we believe you really need to “get” for you to be successful out of the gate.  As a new salesperson in 2012, you have platforms and technology available to you that older people like us would kill for when we were starting.  So one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not take advantage of what’s been handed to you.

1.    Get clear.  This could pertain to many things like your personal goals, your income goals, the number of new clients you want in a 12-month period etc. But I think the biggest thing you can get clear about is “the problems you solve.”  Clarity in that area will help you communicate your value and your intentions to your customer in a much more savvy way.

2.    Get a method.  90% of sales people don’t have or don’t use any kind of a selling system or method to help prospects walk through the process.  My contention is that most methods are just manipulative enough that sales people don’t like to use them.  A great method should be less about convincing someone to buy from you and more about a process of sorting those who are tire-kickers and curious only, to those who are serious buyers.  Sorting is the thing.  Amateur sales people close 15% of their proposals; professionals close 80.

3.    Get a coach.  I know what you’re saying, “How can I afford a coach when I just started in sales?”  My reaction to that is “It doesn’t matter. You must have a coach.” You must have someone there that you can confide in, whose shoulder you can cry on and who you can party with when things go well. But don’t make the coach your sales manager.  They have too much skin invested in your success.  Find someone, pay them if you like, who is unconditional about your success and doesn’t benefit in any way from it other than just the sharing of feeling of success, other than the feeling of knowing the coach contributed to your success in some small way. Read more