What Are Your Sales Strengths?

As a salesperson, what are you good at?

Is it something broad, like "retail selling" or "telesales?" Or is it something specific, such as "Getting customers to see the investment potential in our ABC mutual fund," or "Adding lamps to the order whenever I sell a sofa." Whatever it is, celebrate your sales strengths.

What I sometimes see are salespeople who don't take full advantage of their existing sales strengths. In an effort to be more balanced, (or to respond to pressure from management), they seek to moderate their outcomes by focusing on areas of weakness, and in doing so, they lessen their success in their areas of strength.

I want to suggest that you start using your strengths like nobody on the face of the earth can do what you do. If you're great at selling lamps whenever a customer buys a sofa, why not try selling two lamps instead of just one, or three instead of two? You've already discovered you're good at selling lamps as an add-on sale, so take that ball and run with it.

Or maybe you can expand your strength into selling lamps along with beds, too. Whenever you have a bed customer, there should be two lamps on the delivery truck with that customer's name on them.

And if you're tops in your organization at getting prospects to see the potential in your "ABC" mutual fund, perhaps you can also have the same effect when you propose your the "DEF" fund to a slightly different customer with slightly different needs.

Some people are only vaguely aware of their strengths, or not aware of them at all. Start by clearly identifying your sales strengths. Ask your manager, your coworkers, your boyfriend, your customers...ask whoever would know what your strengths are. Don't settle for vague or general answers. Drill down to specifics.

As your understanding of your strengths grows, identify opportunities to use those strengths in an even more significant way. Out of this process can grow new opportunities for rising sales.

Next, look for ways to use your strengths in new, fresh, unexpected, or expanded ways. When you do that, you have even more opportunity for sales growth.

What are your sales strengths? Tell the world by clicking "comments" below...

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Comments

[Bill Rice]

Great point on how to leverage your sales strengths to expand successes:

"And if you're tops in your organization at getting prospects to see the potential in your "ABC" mutual fund, perhaps you can also have the same effect when you propose your the "DEF" fund to a slightly different customer with slightly different needs."

I think we often miss these little synergies that take small efforts, but yield big results.

[Skip Anderson]

Thanks for stopping by and sharing Bill.

I think that sometimes human nature dictates that we repeat our successes, but in a very limited way. I believe you're correct in pointing out that little synergies take small efforts, but have a large payback.

Skip