The 4 Most Important Habits of Successful Sales People

In order to be truly successful in sales a sales person needs to be constantly looking for ways to improve. These four habits of successful sales people provide a good start for anyone looking to close more deals.

Asked to define what measures a sales person can take to perfect their craft, sales and marketing consultant Don F. Perkins, author of the Mindmulch.net blog, offers four principles that the most successful sales people take to heart and flourish as a result. The first habit is a consistent desire to grow and search out better ways of doing things, or, as Perkins puts it, having a healthy fear of the status quo. “So long as we keep looking for better ways to meet customer needs, it will always put us out in front of the pack,” he writes.

Perkins also stresses the importance of setting not only concrete goals, but also the right metrics to use to measure your success. The third habit is something that all sales people know they should do, but few consistently accomplish: taking the time to really listen to your customers — especially when they’re not happy. Finally, Perkins suggests that the best sales people always make it a point to leverage their colleagues and networks. “There’s no shortage of great ideas out there,” Perkins writes. “When you see some ideas bubbling to the top that have rung true with several people, it might be time to put that idea to the test for yourself.”