It takes a specific set of skills and personality traits to be a successful salesperson, but if there is one characteristic that every agent needs, it's resilience. While some people may face adversity and think to themselves, "That didn't work last time, so I'm not going to try again," a successful sales representative needs to take the opposite approach.
With sales, rejection is the standard. All the negativity may be difficult to deal with for some people, but sales agents need to do more than cope with it, they need to thrive off of rejection. It doesn't matter how hard they get knocked down, effective salespeople will get right back up again and treat the next call as if the previous one didn't happen.
"Salespeople don't just distance themselves from rejection," Patrick Sweeney, resident of Caliper Corporation, told Selling Power. "Instead, they think about what happened, take the learning lessons and envision the opportunity to go back in and do it again, because they feel they can take that challenge on and change the outcome. They know they can't go back and do it again, but in the back of their minds they're dying for a similar opportunity because they know what they'd do differently."
Given the current economy, resilience has quickly become more than a desired character trait among salespeople – it's nearly a necessity. Now more than ever, prospects have become more cost-conscious – they don't want to buy new things unless they really need them. This means salespeople will be facing even more rejections, and their ability to respond to this challenge is crucial to success.
While resilience is an important character trait, there are steps businesses can take to minimize the chances of dealing with rejection and even succumbing to it. Sales coaching is one strategy many businesses are turning to as a means to help develop their sales teams and give them a bigger edge in the field.
An effective sales coaching program will bestow the tools and strategies needed to take average-performing salespeople to the next level. By utilizing a professional sales training company, businesses can rest assured that their agents will get the coaching they need to succeed.
