The art of a good sales person is based on the foundation of always improving ones skills. No matter how long someone has been in sales, it is important to always be engrossed in new techniques and taking classes to expand on your knowledge. Even if you know specific techniques, hearing them again, often acts as a reminder which will instigate a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
I typically take at least one professional sales course every year. I enjoy the process and appreciate the opportunity to meet others who also believe in improving their skills. After more than 30 years in sales I always look forward to being exposed to the sales environment.
Some of the courses I’ve taken are from Dale Carnegie, Tom Hopkins, Brian Tracy, Quality Control, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Personality Recognition, Phsysiognomy, and many others. After a time, I began to develop my own style and methods. I’ve combined time management and organizational skills to create a more efficient use of time and I use ratios (more detail later) to learn how to control my income.
There are six sales cycles: the Approach, the Interview, the Presentation, the Proposal or Agreement, The Close and the Follow Up. Each stage of the sales cycle has a single purpose, to get to the next cycle.