Five (5) Traits of a good salesman .

Some people just seem gifted. Somehow everything they do, they do well.
To the rest of us what they do seems like magic and we wish we had the same abilities.

In sales this is at least as common as in any other industry.
Some salesmen just have the ability to close more than the rest; it is like they had a magic touch.
Whilst others are working round the clock with 1 sale a week, these salesmen make 3 sales a day and only work for a while.

How?
Since I got into sales this “mystery” has intrigued me.
I have studied good salesmen, poor salesmen and everyone in between.

As a sales person I have gotten an even better opportunity to study my peers and those working with me.

I have found that all-star salesmen have these features in common
Your quality as a salesman is largely determined by what degree these five features are to you.

 Hunger
Any salesman of quality needs hunger, a driving force pushing them to succeed. It doesn’t make any difference what that force is; Money, Prestige or just the feel of Winning, as long as it is there and that it is powerful.

In my eyes this is the most important trait of all, because if this is lacking there is no reason to work, to excel and the other qualities go un-used.

.A thirst for knowledge
All good salesmen want to know everything about their product, their industry, the competition and their customers so that they feel prepared to answer any question or objection from their customers.

Pride
showing pride in yourself, your appearance and your company is very important.
Customers can quickly see if you aren’t proud to show off your product, its features and benefits.

The salesman who tries to sidestep any such questions immediately gets suspected of working for a company with a shady product and therefore not being a person they want to do business with.

 Discipline
Sales is hard, tedious work. Day in and day out you do the same thing, over and over.
Being able to do it at a constantly high level takes a lot of discipline, constantly working on your techniques and skills takes iron will and a strong person, but it is at the core of a quality salesman.

Confidence
Being able to go into a room with the CEO, 2 members of the board and a group of high level executives and making a presentation requires guts.

You must be able to stand up straight and say “This is me, this is the company I work for and this is why we are the BEST partner for you!”

Pride in your work and confidence in yourself go hand and hand, but you cannot do without either.

Improve on what you do worst
All of us have these traits, but in different degrees.
Only you know truly how confident you are in yourself, how proud you are of your company, how well you are able to discipline yourself, how interested you are in knowing more about your industry and how hungry you are to succeed, but you need to be able to look at yourself and see what your weakest points are and start to work on their improvement.

This is a never ending challenge; you can always improve and always get better.

From my personal experience I can say that working on your weakest skill makes a large difference, not only in how well you do your job, but in your whole life. When you start looking at yourself objectively as if you were someone else, you learn so much about yourself and your start to grow.

I hope this article has inspired you to improve and helped you see what traits it is you need to work on if you are to become the best.

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REASONS WHY YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGN FAILED.

After weeks of planning, strategizing, and creating your marketing campaign, it falls flat after it launches. What do you do now? Throw in the towel? Look for a new career path? Of course not. Failure is a reality of content marketing and we’re all bound to experience it at some point. What’s important is how you respond. Figure out what went wrong so you can make necessary adjustments. We’ve compiled a list of eight reasons your marketing campaign may have failed, and how to avoid these mistakes the next time around.

You Didn’t Identify the Proper Persona

One of the most important questions you will ask yourself throughout a marketing campaign is, “Who is our target consumer?” Get this answer wrong, and success is all but impossible. Identifying the proper persona takes a lot of research. You’ll need to consider factors such as who your product appeals to, what solution your product is offering, and how much competition is in the market. Once you have a general idea of your market, you need to get more specific. Create a story, or persona, around your target consumer and get to know their interests, challenges, habits, and purchasing decisions. Knowing your persona will help you better target your marketing campaign.

 You Had Insufficient Research

For the most part, marketers are a creative bunch who get the most thrill out of coming up with ideas and concepts for creative assets. Unfortunately, this may mean that research does not get the attention it deserves. Ample research is crucial to the success of a marketing campaign. Devote the time (and staff) necessary to learn about your consumer and the market space you’re stepping into. You should be looking at external and internal databases, as well as conducting your research through surveys and consumer panels.

You Didn’t Have Correct or Realistic Success Metrics

There are many indicators of a successful marketing campaign, including increased brand recognition, increased sales, improved consumer interaction, and increased conversion rates. If you look at just one of these categories, it may appear as though your campaign was a failure when perhaps it wasn’t as bad as you think. For instance, your campaign may significantly increase traffic to your website, but a greater number of visitors (even if it leads to more sales) may still result in decreased conversion rates. Look at all of the metrics of success before you launch a campaign and come up with realistic, attainable goals for your marketing campaign.

You Created the Wrong Message for Your Audience

Marketing is a field that is dependent on audience reaction. It doesn’t matter how creative or original an idea may be if it misses the target with your audience. When you are brainstorming and discussing strategies for your marketing campaign, make sure you are always keeping your consumer persona in mind. Your message and content should speak directly to their needs/interests/wants.

You Delivered Content at the Wrong Time of the Buyer’s Journey

Unfortunately, even if you create the perfect message, it won’t lead to success if it’s not delivered to the consumer at the right time. But when is the “right time?” Answering this question with any degree of certainty requires an understanding of your consumer and their purchasing patterns, which, of course, requires research. You should be tracking and analyzing consumer interaction to understand the buyer’s purchasing journey. If this journey takes place online, consider Google Analytics, heat maps, and other analysis tools. Understanding the buyer’s journey will give you a better idea of when you want your content delivered.

You Didn’t Give the Campaign Enough Time

When you don’t get the results you want from a marketing campaign it can be disheartening, to say the least. And the last thing you want to do is sink more time and money into a failing campaign. But at the same time, you need to ensure you give your marketing campaign enough time to succeed. The best way to do this is to set goals and timelines before the campaign launch. Start at your desired result and work backwards. This will help to ensure that your campaign is given ample time for success, and will also give you pre-determined goals by which to measure that success.

 You Failed to Meet Regulatory or Brand Compliance Guidelines

Marketing compliance guidelines should be taken very seriously, as failing to meet these guidelines can ruin your reputation with your consumers and can lead to campaign failure. These regulations are always changing, and not everyone on your marketing team can be expected to keep up with all the ins and outs of these standards. However, everyone should maintain a basic understanding of these guidelines so that your campaign delivers a clear and honest message that is consistent with your brand.

 Your Product Fell Short of Your Claims

Don’t over promise and under deliver. As great as your marketing campaign may be, if consumers buy the product and are disappointed in its performance, that word is going to spread quickly, and sales will drop. As a marketer, you may not have control over product quality, but you do have control over how to represent that product, which ties back into meeting regulatory guidelines. Make sure you understand your product and are not overselling it or making promises that you can’t deliver.

Any of these mistakes can significantly impact the success of a marketing campaign. However, if you understand the reason for your campaign’s failure, you can make the adjustments that are necessary to ensure success in your next campaign launch

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