Why is it that some salespeople consistently meet quota, while others struggle to book a meeting with a decision maker?

Is it because they were born to sell? Are they master con artists? Is it just beginners luck? Actually, it’s none of the above.

Sales is a tough gig, and because of this, successful salespeople need to think outside the box and leverage all the resources they can. It’s all about establishing good sales habits, and with that being said, here are the 4 habits of highly effective salespeople:

You use technology.

Technology makes the world go round. However, the majority of salespeople like to think that they make the world go round… that their mere existence makes everything in the world right.

But this… is far from the truth.

A salesperson who tracks their calls, activities, opportunities, and leads with technology is a good salesperson. A salesperson who knows how to use technology to capture leads on-the-go and take someone’s money no matter where they are or what they have is a good salesperson. And a salesperson who employs technology to a manage interactions in a modern, user-friendly, and engaging way is a good salesperson.

You talk to other departments.

Sales isn’t the end-all-be-all of an organization. You have support. You have marketing. You have management. You have accounting. You have admin. Even if you sell, sell, sell… your sale will be for nothing if you have no team on the other side of that sale to back it up.

To be a successful salesperson, you must understand that you, and you alone, do not make a company. The team does. You can, however, break a company. If you don’t communicate with support after a sale and if you don’t consult with marketing before a sale, there will be unnecessary hiccups, hurdles, and slip-ups.

You listen to the client.

A good salesperson knows that to be a good salesperson you actually have to fulfill a need and solve a problem. But unfortunately, salespeople tend to be so concerned with closing deals that they sometimes miss that whole part about fulfilling needs and solving problems.

If this is how you do things, though, the sale will fall apart eventually. Either you’ll never close the deal, or you will close the deal but it will end very poorly when expectations aren’t met.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the client. If you do listen and what you hear is that you aren’t a fit for their company, then that’s okay. A poorly fit client and a loosely closed deal will cost you more money and morale than it’s worth.

You know your product and your market.

There are two sides to this coin. Your product and your market.

You don’t necessarily have to be a product expert to sell a product, because if you really think about it, the average consumer doesn’t really care about specs, bytes, and bits. They want to know what it does, if it can fulfill their needs, and how it can benefit them. If you can relay this information to a client, you’re good to go. HOWEVER, to do this effectively, you must also know your target market.

If you don’t know your target market’s needs, then how can you answer their questions? You can’t. And if you try to, you’ll only end up sounding uneducated and unprofessional.