Every day, some one is trying to sell you something. Most of the time, you’ll simply say no to the salesperson. You’ll still get a call again and you shout on the phone before disconnecting. And many times, you’ll blacklist the number. This is a fact which makes sales being one of the toughest profession.

It is famous that salespersons don’t worry about salaries but they care about commissions because that’s what matters to them. and these commissions are huge in a way that a salesperson can afford a luxurious lifestyle after a few years of experience. Salespersons travel the world, attend a lot of parties, meet a lot of people on high positions and have a lot of company money as entertainment expense at their disposal. But then, why people still don’t want to be salesperson as a first preference ? Only select few become a salesperson by choice.

Fear of Rejection

Human brain is wired in such a way that it cannot handle rejection. You would have faced multiple rejection in your life. Whether it was a rejection in an interview, may be you failed in exams, or someone broke your heart, it is tough to handle rejection for human beings. For this fear of rejection, most of the people find the job of a salesperson very tough.

It is a rare thing to crack a deal in first contact itself. Most of the first contact is a blunt no , no matter how lucrative the offer is. 60% of the people give up at this stage itself. Only 40% continue to make a second contact with a prospect. and then, 20% drop out at second contact. By the time, actual sales happen, it is generally more than the fifth contact. and only 10% people reach to this level to realize a potential into conversion.

Most of the people quit at the first stage itself because they are unable to handle the rejection. A lot of people feel insulted and it hurts their ego when someone does not buy the product they are selling. Many a times, if you cannot handle the rejection, you’ll blame the other guy without understanding his viewpoint or his needs. Or may be a lot of people feel bad about pestering potential customers thinking that it is a bad gesture to call a person who does not want to talk to you. But a great salesperson does not have the fear of rejection. In fact, every salesperson tries to understand the reasons of rejection and fine tunes his pitch for the next time.

Perseverance

What one can notice here is Perseverance . A great salesperson persists for a long time for a cold lead turning into a conversion. The salesperson lives through a hellish long sales cycle and sustain himself with a positive thought believing that it will convert for sure. To make the conversion happen, he makes himself available 24/7 to the prospect, gathers enough data points to prove his point and product superiority, keeps an eye on competition and is ready with a counter offer while being at the prospect’s desk. A salesperson is the kind of person who’ll never say no to a meeting even if he is unwell, has a family emergency or anything like that. Because if a sale doesn’t happen, his hard work on that long sales cycle is going to go waste. and this perseverance happens because of desperation. A lot of people are not desperate towards their goals and without desperation, you cannot achieve what you want. Desperation to achieve is the key to success for a salesperson.

Understanding Human Psychology and Behaviour

A salesperson is equally good in understanding human psychology and behaviour. They may not be having a degree in these subjects but are expert in figuring out the mood of the prospect. They create environment and set the tone in such a way that it favours them to the core. And if it is going against the way they wanted it to be, they know exactly how to bail out themselves.

Great Negotiation Skills

Many of us give up on negotiation. We feel that negotiation lowers our brand image. But if you examine most of the big business houses, they are extremely good at negotiation. One of the biggest examples is Reliance Industries in India. Reliance Industries is a conglomerate with a turnover of more than $50 billion. But even the top management of the company negotiates with the smallest of customers and vendors for every single cent. And that’s one of the reasons, they are one of the companies having largest turnovers and highest figures in sales of their products. Their salespersons are tough negotiators that they don’t leave money on the table. they grab every single pie to make sure that the bottom line is always growing.

Finally, whatever you may say, salespersons become the most important for any company as they are the ones who are in the frontline. They bear the customer brunt if the product fails. They cover the goof ups of the product and package it nicely to make it saleable. They are the ones taking risks to keep revenues growing. They live on the edge and sacrifice personal life to make themselves available for customer meetings.

And of course, they smile even when abused by the potential customers. they smile even if they had to wait long hours in hot or cold weather just for a five minute opportunity window.