Working with successful sales people when you are not very successful yourself can be extremely unnerving. It can actually drive you to the edge of insanity. I know. A few years ago, I was in a sales group barely making my quota while another worker who started at almost exactly the same time was excelling. I could tell some of the things that made him a successful sales person, of course. He had that charm and ease with people, that ability to talk to anyone about anything and still stay in his comfort zone. It is often said that successful sales people are chameleons, and he definitely exemplified this.
Nonetheless, this didn't go all the way to explain why I wasn't successful in sales. I may not have been the same social chameleon, but I wasn't exactly awkward. I had an easy time talking to customers and clients, and could make conversation on pretty much any topic. Nonetheless, no matter how many tips for sales people I read, no matter how many sales training seminars I went to, I couldn't make my way up the ladder of success.
The one thing that did it was actually spending some time out of work with the successful sales people. I definitely wasn't one of those workers who liked to socialize with my coworkers at the end of the day. I had a big group of friends already, and my main priority was getting out of the office, not staying connected to people I had to see all day anyway. Nonetheless, after one particularly stressful work day I went out for drinks with some of the more successful sales people in the office. I got to see how they interacted with each other, and I finally understood.
The most successful sales people, as far as I can tell, are people who never leave the job. In other words, whether they were getting drinks with friends, hanging out with their families, or negotiating a difficult sales deal, they always maintained the same salesman persona. The used communication as a tool to get what they wanted, and were on their guard most of the time. They were constantly negotiating deals about everything, as if they were practicing. Sales, I began to realize, can be a passion for some people just like writing, programming, or any other career.
Ultimately, I don't think I had what it took to become one of the successful sales people. That isn't to say that my success didn't improve in the following few months. When I started taking sales into the rest of my life, I noticed myself becoming better at it. I learned how to get what I wanted in conversations, and I took that skill back to the office with me every day. I was never a highly successful sales person, but by the time I left the office I was fairly good.
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