Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: Being the Best

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For the written transcript, keep reading...Where do you rank as a salesperson? Are you doing the best job you can? Whether you have been in sales for 20 days or 20 years there are things you should always be doing to ensure you're performing at a maximum.

Just to test your salesperson quotient, below are 10 questions you should ask yourself. Be honest with your answers--after all, this is all about you and how good a salesperson you are or can be:

1. How serious are you about your career? Do you try to learn everything you can about sales and marketing? Do you read the right books and magazines? Do you attend seminars and webinars? Are you aways trying to improve your skills and yourself?
2. How well do you plan things out? Plan for everything from lead generation to that first meeting; you must know what you're going to say and do. Like a good Boy Scout, you must always be prepared. Never, ever, wing it!
3. How well do you know your customers? Do you know everything you can about them? Do you try to learn everything you can about prospective customers? When you walk into an appointment with a new target customer, you should know everything you can about that company. Actually, if they are a target customer, you should have already done your homework on that company; otherwise, how did they get on your target list?
4. How well are you networking? You should be working closely with everyone in your field and helping them as much as possible. The more you can be of service to your customers in all ways--even to the point of helping them with things that have nothing to do with your products--the better and deeper your relationship with them will be.
5. Are you reporting on what you’re doing? Are you keeping track of your progress? You must do your reports, not because your boss wants you to, but because it will help you to stay focused in the long run. Keeping up with reports and progress is your way of keeping score and there is no way we can win the game if we don’t know what the score is.
6. Are you forecasting? Are you putting down what you think you're going to book next week, next month, next quarter, or next year? If your company’s sales manager requires you to forecast, congratulations--you are working for a good company. If she doesn’t care if you to forecast, do it anyway. Once again, how are you going to know how you’re doing if you don’t keep score? Forecasting is all about keeping score.
7. Is your head in the game? Do you have the passion, innovation, creativity, and confidence to do the job right? Do you have that fire in your belly, that certain something that makes you a winner? If you don’t have that, if you don’t feel that burning passion to succeed, you should be thinking about another line of work.
8. Are you acting like you’re your own boss, that you are You Incorporated? You should be. The great thing about sales is that you can control your own destiny. If you want a raise, just look in the mirror and give yourself a raise by deciding to work harder and win more business. Your success is entirely up to you and no one else. If, for some reason, you feel that the company you are with will not allow you the freedom to do that, find another company.
9. Do you accept new things, new tools, new trends, and new ideas? Social media is here to stay, and it is now the way to do business. We can’t afford to not believe in it. We have to not only accept it, but embrace, it and get good at using it. The world will not wait for you to make up your mind about LinkedIn--it's moving forward with or without you. If you decide not to include yourself, you will most certainly be the loser in the end.
10. Do you set goals? Do you sit down and try to decide where you want to be in one year, five years, or 10 years? You need to set your goals and figure out how to achieve them. If you don’t set goals, forget about being successful.

So, there you have it, how did you do with these questions? Are you happy with your answers? If you are, that’s great--you're well on your way to being a very successful salesperson. If you're not happy with your answers, change things. Start incorporating these 10 ideas into your sales life and you will succeed in the end. It’s only common sense.