With all the creature comforts available today, it doesn’t seem right to tell someone to enjoy being uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable in certain areas may be good advice for salespeople. Why?

Cold calls, long hours

Making cold calls and working long hours may be uncomfortable, but they’re also necessary for sales success. Successful salespeople understand that sometimes it takes present discomfort to achieve future gains.

New opportunities

Successful salespeople also understand and appreciate that the upside of dealing with difficult situations is learning and developing new sales skills. They often pick difficult tasks (or sales calls) over the easy ones, recognizing they’ll make them stronger as a salesperson.

Three key areas

Here are three areas that cause discomfort for salespeople. It’s a good idea to share these common sore spots with your staffers (especially the younger, less experienced reps) so they recognize they are not alone in dealing with them — and so they know how to deal with them.

1. Coping with losing a sale. When some salespeople lose a sale, they push it to the back of their minds and chose not to talk about it. But the first step in dealing with a lost sale is acknowledging it and learning what they could’ve done differently. There’s always tomorrow to turn things around.
2. Breaking out of a sales slump. When someone’s experiencing a slump, it’s critical that the person look carefully at his or her approach, strategies, strengths and weaknesses. The person must recognize that the key to breaking out of a slump is to maintain a positive attitude, prospect effectively, tailor presentations to individual prospects/customers and offer great after-sales service.
3. Dealing with customer problems. When customers call with problems, salespeople are tasked with a challenge: drawing on all of their resources and experiences to come up with effective and timely solutions. Those who become experts at problem-solving take on the role of troubleshooter, a role that builds customer trust and loyalty.

Adapted from “The 12 Clichés of Selling,” by Barry Farber

Tags: Attitude, cold calls, loyalty, problem-solving, sales skills, salespeople, service, slump, Trust