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The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak
307 How to Be the Ultimate Sales Professional: The Four Pillars
00:17:32
There are four pillars that comprise being the Ultimate Sales Professional, and not someone who just does sales. Being fearless and rejection-proof, Being others-focused in your thinking and actions, Mastering a proven prospecting and sales process,...
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You are listening to the Art of Sales. Everyone sells every day and this is your source for conversational real world sales and prospecting methods that you are comfortable using and that get results you'll help people buy instead of pushing them into being sold. Here's your host, Art Sopcich.
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Over the past 40 plus years of having the opportunity and the honor to help tens of thousands of salespeople worldwide, I've noticed and now compiled what it takes to truly be the ultimate sales professional. That's what separates the highest achievers and earners from those who struggle and barely get by or actually leave the profession altogether. Today, I'm diving into what it truly takes to be, to think and act like the highest level sales professional. So I'm going to walk you through the four pillars that define the ultimate sales professional. These are the traits, the habits, the mindsets that separate the best from the rest. So as I go through these, rate yourself as to where you feel you are right now and where you'd like to be in order to get the results you want and are capable of. Are you ready? Let's get started. All right, so salespeople exist on a continuum. You might not have realized that. So picture this. So on one end of the continuum, or along the line, let's say on the left end, you have those who simply are in a sales job. They go through the motions, maybe like an assembly line worker, they don't desire to become better and they just do the minimum to get by. And they're constantly rejected, or so they feel. And they are not getting the yeses that they want because they're not using good methodologies. And as a result, many of them don't even like their job. And on the far right side, the opposite end, these are the true sales professionals. They're masters of their craft. They're always learning and applying proven methods to help others while also growing their own success. Selling professionally is not just what they do, it is who they they are. Jim Rohn said success leaves clues. And if we follow those clues, we can all move toward the far right end of this continuum. And that's exactly what we're going to cover here. So the foundation of being the ultimate sales professional lies in four interconnected pillars. Being fearless and rejection proof. Number two, being others focused. Three, using a proven prospecting and sales process and messaging. And finally doing the work which involves our habits, our discipline and taking radical responsibility. So I'm going to explore each one in detail again as we go through these. Think of where you are On a scale of 1 to 10, and where you'd like to be. All right, so being fearless and rejection proof. Fear and rejection are two of the biggest barriers in sales. But here's the truth. Rejection is not what happens to you. It's always the story you tell yourself about what happened. So change the story and you're never going to feel rejected again. You control the story you tell yourself. For example, instead of saying, I got rejected, how about reframing it? Well, I discovered this prospect isn't a fit right now. So shift your focus also to what you can learn. Ask, what could I have done differently? Or what will I do differently next time? Or what's my next step here? Oh, and here's another powerful tool in my training, we teach secondary objectives. If you don't accomplish your primary goal, aim for a smaller win of some type, which you always control. And that could be asking a particular question, or at the end, planting a seed for the future, leaving the door open, leaving a positive impression. You can always get some type of win on every interaction because you control the story. So again, replace your negative story with the positive one. And being fearless also means detaching yourself from outcomes. Focus on the process, what you control, not the result, which you don't control. Right? Because even if you do everything right, we still don't control the person at the other end of the line. Set goals for your activity, like making a specific number of calls. Celebrate the effort, not just the outcomes. This mindset keeps you resilient, keeps you motivated. And even when things don't go as planned, which happens often, right? Number two, being others focused. Zig Ziglar famously said, you can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want, Right? Being others Focus is not just a strategy, it's an identity. Imagine walking into a room where everyone is talking about themselves. That actually happens quite a bit, right? How does that make you feel? Now imagine doing the same thing at your prospects. Hey, it's not about you. It's not about your product, not about your company, not about your thing. It's about them and what they want, what they need, what they're interested in. So here's a simple exercise to help you with this. Very simple. Before every human interaction, whether you're on the phone in a sales situation or just interacting with anybody, ask yourself what interests them. I've got an acronym for that. WIT W I T. What interests them. That completely shifts your mindset and focuses on them. Remember that acronym, WIT W I T. Another acronym to use is inum, which is I N A M and that one stands for it's not about Me. Use this one when you're actually speaking with someone. And if you think you might be speaking a little bit too much about yourself, remember it's not about you. So these help keep the focus on the other person, not your own selfish agenda. And this mindset also shifts how you prepare, you listen and engage with others. So take time to research your prospects thoroughly before calling. What are they possibly interested in? What's going on in their world? What might their priorities be? How can you possibly solve their problems when you make it about them? You're no longer just selling your servicing. And don't stop there. Practice being others focused in every area of life. It's a skill that enhances not only your sales, but also your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, service workers, anybody that you come in contact with. You will feel better. So will they. And you're you'll find that you're going to be getting better results. Next using a proven prospecting and sales process and Messaging Ultimately, sales is about humans talking to humans. That's a surprise to some people who think they could just email all day. But we can't just copy a script and expect success. It's about mastering the craft, the performance, learning what works, refining it to fit your style, and then continuously improving. Think of it like going to the gym. You just don't show up, lift a random weight and expect results. So very similar. In sales, you need a structured, proven process to follow on a regular basis. And then we want to master it, refine it, and never stop getting better. That is the key to sounding smooth and conversational and natural. My life's work has primarily been on helping salespeople with their process and want to say. And you have access to a lot of that right here in the archives of this podcast. I have over 300 episodes, most of which give you exactly what to say and do to avoid resistance and get more yeses. So I encourage you to go through the archives@theartofsales.com and then simply go to the Episodes tab. There's a search bar on the right and find episodes that interest you. And you could create your own learning curriculum, your own masterclass on whatever part of the sales process and messaging that you want. And finally, number four, Doing the work. This is the pillar that ties it all together, actually doing the work. Success comes from preparation, consistency and discipline, especially when you don't feel like it. As my friend Larry Winga says your results are your own damn fault. Take ownership. Own your outcomes, good or bad. When things go wrong, don't point fingers. Ask yourself what you can do to fix or improve the situation. The best sales professionals don't just work hard, they work smart, focusing on high impact activities like prospecting, preparation and self development. So here's an actionable tip. Lock time in your calendar for prospecting every day. If that's something that you do or should be doing, make it non negotiable. This needs to become a ritual. Make it a solid appointment with yourself and this habit alone can transform your results. And remember, being consistent, it doesn't mean being perfect. It means showing up every day, putting in the effort, learning from your experiences, getting 1% better every day. Over time, this commitment compounds into exceptional, unbelievable results. So putting it all together, every pillar is essential. It's like four legs of a table. You can take a few of them, for example, you can be others focused. But maybe you lack the messaging skills. Or you can work your work your tail off tirelessly. But without a process, you're not going to be doing the right things. Right. And doing now, you're doing the same thing over and over again. So the the magic happens at the intersection of all four of these pillars. If you picture a Venn diagram with the intersection right in the middle. So picture this. A sales professional who masters proven messaging, prioritizes the other person, is fearless and consistently does the work. What happens? Well, that's the ultimate sales professional. I hope that's you or what you want to be. So as we wrap up, here's my challenge to you. Number one, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of these four areas. Go through it again and then ask yourself, okay, where do I want to be now? And then the third step, the key step, decide what will you do to get there? And if you do want to do something, if all of this resonated with you, if you're not where you want to be, but you know you are capable of great things and you have the desire and the commitment to do what it takes to get there. But you'd like some help in the process, Well, I have what could be the perfect fit for you. After over a year in planning and production and a lot of sweat and effort, I have. I'm proud to have created the Smart Calling Ultimate Sales Pro Mastery training and coaching program. In this program, we together go on a journey that transforms participants from some degree of just doing sales, maybe more on the left side of that continuum to becoming the sales professional who fearlessly, confidently and masterfully does the things to achieve extraordinary results for themselves and their customers. Now this is not for everyone and it is exclusive and by invitation. It involves in depth transformational, not surface level training on the four pillars. It involves ongoing training to reinforce and master the mindset and the skills. We have twice monthly group coaching calls with me to address individuals challenges, provide accountability, reviewing messaging, listening to recordings of calls. We also have a community to interact with like minded motivated sales pros. We'll have a comprehensive resource library of virtually everything I have created to answer your questions. And speaking of answering questions, a brand new this is the working title art GTP AI engine to provide coaching and answers 247 and there's even more. Now this is a year long program since True Transformation is not a one off seminar or a motivational speech, a book or a single webinar. As I record this the first week of January, we're going to be inviting and welcoming the first founding members in mid January. Then after we've settled in a bit, we're going to be accepting new members all throughout the year. So if you're listening, when we first release this podcast, you can get details on how to be one of those founding members. And if it's after January, you're going to be able to also get complete program information and get on the waiting list. So to do either of those, simply go to smart calling.com forward/coaching. Again, smart calling.com forward/ coaching all right. Hey, you know what time it is? The Art of the sales. That's right. It's time for the quote of the day. And today's quote is from me, which I have created about being an ultimate sales professional. And it's this. Being an ultimate sales professional isn't just what you do, it's who you are. It's taking bold, masterful action through disciplined commitments to habits, taking radical responsibility for your actions and your outcomes resulting in selfless focus on others and ultimately serving at the highest level while enjoying tremendous rewards. That pretty much sums it up. All right, so again, get details on this life changing transformational program. Go to smartcalling.com forward/coaching. Thank you so much for investing your valuable sales time with me today. Until next time, go out and make it your best sales day ever. I've heard subject.