JCK Las Vegas: Great Sellers Show Passion



Great
salespeople all have passion and commitment, Kate Peterson of
Performance
Concepts said in a seminar titled The Secrets of Top Jewelry
Salespeople.

“It’s
not money that motivates the great salespeople,” Peterson said.
“It’s a commitment to their customer, to their career, to making
the sale.

Peterson
laid out these other characteristics of great salespeople:

* They
constantly improve.
“The best salespersons thrive when they are
given
the ability to grow,” she said. That doesn’t necessarily mean
getting promoted to manager. “Manager and salesperson are different
jobs.
To a great salesperson, getting promoted means going from $1 million to a
million and a half.”

* They
are people—not salespeople.
To be a great salesperson, “keep
yourself interested or interesting,” she said. “Read the trade
magazines. Do you know that three magnificent blue diamonds are on
display at
the Smithsonian? What does that have to do with anything? Nothing. But
it’s something to talk about.

“The
best salespeople are engaging,” she added. “They have
conversations. They don’t make presentations. What is the difference
between a conversation and a presentation? There are two people involved
in a
conversation, not one.”

* They
ask first, and tell later.
“Most of us just tell what we know,”
Peterson said. “Great salespeople go fly-fishing. They throw it out and
pull it back. If I say something like, ‘Isn’t it amazing how many
occasions there are in the month of June?’ and the answer comes back,
‘I know what you mean. I have three grandchildren born in June,’
then you have hooked something.”

* They
don’t rely on default behavior.
“Everyone says they don’t
say, ‘May I help you,’ but if I had a quarter every time someone
asked me that when I walk into a jewelry store, I would have retired
three
years ago,” Peterson said. People who break the mold can do well. She
mentioned a recent visit to an art gallery. Instead of asking her, “Did
you see anything you liked?” the salesperson asked, “Of all the
pictures, what is your favorite?” She singled one out, and ended up
buying it.

* They
pay attention to every detail.
“They read body language,”
Peterson said. “They file and register and then piece things
together.” She noted that one salesperson told her he didn’t
understand why people didn’t pay more attention to the cars in the
parking lot. He wasn’t talking about how expensive they are, but the
decals and stickers on them, because that gave him insight into the
people
coming in.

* They
know their product, policies, and their skills.
They also know what
they
don’t know. “The best salespeople love to turn sales over,”
she said. “Because they know the value of the rest of their team.”

* They
take control and direct the process.
For example, following a sale,
she
recommended that the seller walk the customers to the door. “First,
it’s polite, but it also gives them a little bit more time with the
customer. You can say, ‘I can call you tomorrow to make sure
everything’s OK.’ That person may have forgotten you said that, but
they won’t be surprised you called.”

* They
are positive and confident.
“Great salespeople aren’t
‘yeah, but’ people,” she said. “They are ‘yes,
and’ people. No matter what you say to a great salesperson, you’ll
always get a positive response. There is no ‘no.’ Once the consumer
hears the word ‘no,’ they won’t listen to anything else you
say.”

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