Here is my take on 10 things that will never change in Sales.  When you have a clear understanding of how these 10 things work, you'll undoubtedly have consistent growth and success based on personal experience. 

#1. Prospecting.  Your reservoir must always be full of client names.  In order to fill the reservoir early on in your career, you must learn how to market, advertise, leverage social media, email cold leads with a strategic system, etc.  Always be on the offensive.  Know the appropriate times to contact clients to ensure the most productivity.  Example being, send a text message primarily early in the morning before you get to work, plus periodically throughout the day, send emails at night because unfortunately most people check their emails first thing in the morning when they wake up or while they're sitting on the couch at home after supper, so this ensures they receive your information before their busy day gets started, and call during coffee breaks and lunch hour.

#2. Repeat/Referral is King.  Over time, you will gain a loyal following which will lead to repeat/referral clients.  This makes life much easier because new clients are expensive and time consuming.  To ease the stress on your sales career, your last client experience must be the best one in order for your next relationship to start and be effective.

#3. Begin with the end in mind.  The closing process starts when you meet your new client.  It’s important to ask high quality questions throughout the sales process in order to get both you and the client to the end goal in a respectable amount of time.  There is a saying in Sales that goes ‘5 No’s before they go!” indicating that the client doesn’t really mean no until you ask them 5 times.  This is not the right approach.  If you have to ask them 5 times for the sale, you haven’t qualified properly.  The best sales consultants know what the clients answer is going to be before they even ask it. 

#4. Listening will always trump talking skills.  The more intently you listen, the more effective you’ll be at building relationships, and having the client wanting to buy your product.  Talking more than listening results in you trying to sell the client your product which is never a good thing, you want them to buy your product or service.  The best way to accomplish this is by listening to their needs and wants, and creating a solution for them.

#5. Human relationships will never die.  With the volatile change in technology, and the advancement in automation, human relationships becomes that much more valuable and it’s something that will never go away.  This is why it’s crucial to be in a peak state on a daily basis.  You want to make an everlasting good first impression with a client, and build a relationship off of that.  No matter how far technology advances in the future, human relationships will always matter.

#6. You will always be the difference.  There’s always going to be competition in sales, which is a good thing because it holds you accountable to your development.  Quite honestly, the last thing you want is a monopoly because you’ll become content and lazy.  Having competition keeps you sharp and forces you to stay on top of your game.  If you’re up against the competition that has an equal amount of training and ability as you, and offers the same product for the same price, then you’re the difference maker to the client.  You’re the difference between the client choosing you or your competition.

#7. Physiology matters.  This often gets overlooked but the way you physically approach a new client in particular, can often times be the difference between a yes or a no.  They can make a buying decision before you even speak based on how you walk or shake their hand. Pay attention to the pace of your walk, your posture, the way you shake someone’s hand, your hygiene, etc. because it all matters and always will matter.

#8. Embrace the emotional roller coaster.  As you’ve likely already discovered, there are an incredible amount of highs and lows in sales.  What matters is that we anticipate them.  Embrace the fact that they are going to occur and that it’s how you respond to them that matters.  Knowing this ahead of time and preparing for it will help keep your stress level under control.

#9. Logic based selling wins.  Being genuine and honest can often times be the determining factor between the client choosing you over your competition.  Clients are becoming smarter and can see through the typical sales script pitches that are poured onto them.  When you use logic to prove that you have their best interest in mind, you’ll earn their loyalty.  And once you have their loyalty, it’s quite difficult to lose it.

#10. Follow up is critical.  Having a follow up system for contacting clients on a regular basis after their purchase is critical to your success.  How do you think a client feels when you treat them like your best friend during the sales process but neglect to follow up on a regular basis after the sale?  You’ve lost any respect or trust gained during the sales process.  Be their friend, ask about their family, interests and hobbies.  Show a genuine interest in their personal life and believe me, you’ll stand out from the crowd.