The 5 things that great financial industry salespeople do everyday
By: Schneider Sales
Tags: Sales Management, Sales, Sales Training, Sales Development, Salesforce

Great salespeople produce strong, long-term client relationships when they are in the right sales role.

Great financial industry salespeople know the feel of success in selling. This feeling starts with the genuine desire to help a customer. It comes when you’re listening more than you’re talking, and when your conversations revolve around a customer’s needs, feelings, and fears.

The feel of success in selling is not something that people are born with. It is not something that some salespeople have, and some just don’t. It is a set of habits and behaviors that show up in each client conversation, and in repeated rituals and methods that a salesperson does every day.

What are the habits, behaviors, rituals and methods that we see in the best bank and credit union salespeople? Here are the top ten.

Break down their goals into a daily action plan. Salespeople who have goals consistently outperform those who don’t. Goals concentrate our efforts in ways that help us achieve greater results in less time. When you’re focused, you do first what’s most important to your success, and you become more aware of the opportunities and the people who can contribute to your success. Every salesperson needs a beginning point, an action plan that will translate his/her goals into the sales activities that will be necessary to achieve those goals. Sell using the customer’s viewpoint. Selling persuasively requires tailoring your selling proposition to each customer’s viewpoint. Whether you’re selling a product or an idea, the one question you always have to answer for a customer is, “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?” The greatest secret in selling is that customers do things for THEIR reasons, not ours, and high performing salespeople know this. Listen actively and empathetically. Great salespeople listen proactively to accurately hear what people tell you about their needs. These high performers have the habit of fending off distractions, repeating without judgment, and reflecting the customer’s emotions in their conversations. They know how to encourage a person to talk, and fight off the desire to talk more than they listen. Ask the right questions. Clarifying a customer’s concerns assures you that you’ll answer the right concern. Your questions may identify the misinformation a customer has about the features or value of our product, or about what our competitors offer. Listening and then asking questions will help your customer make an apple to apple comparison among our products and those of our competitors. About one-third of the valid concerns you’ll encounter can be answered simply by clearing up misinformation or by helping a customer make a more informed competitive comparison. Think optimistically. Instead of thinking of a “no,” as a personal rejection, great salespeople revel in getting negative feedback from customers. Why? When a customer says no and explains why, that customer is sharing exactly what he or she wants or what he or she doesn’t understand. Many times a “no,” is just an opportunity to develop a relationship and find a solution that is a better fit for a customer.

Great salespeople produce great sales relationships when they are in the right sales role. To make sure every hire is a good hire, use a powerful assessment tool like the Optimum Performance Profile before you hire.