Made Not Born Part I: Sales Masters

Made, Not Born is a series based upon top qualities, techniques, and abilities of the very best professionals in many industries.

PART I: Traits of Sales Masters. Part I of Made, Not Born is focusing on the traits of the super-successful salesperson. What sets the best apart from the rest? Learn more in this article!

I recently read a business headhunter's list of top qualities of an all-star salesperson:

Work Attitude
Integrity
Adaptability
Influence
Interpersonal Relationship
Social Interactions
Positive Self-Esteem
Confidence
Persistence
Organization Skills
Prioritization of Goals

I like each of these, and believe each of these traits will help a salesperson succeed. However, when I interview salespeople and probe my memory for the best salespeople of all-time, my list includes other traits and talents that you might otherwise not consider:

ARRiiVE's Top Sales Masters of All-Time List of Traits and Skills:

1. A master of selling process: able to create a system of selling that builds rapport with clients and prospects very quickly.

2. A master of knowing the buyer's hot-buttons: adept at thinking like a buyer. Researches buyer's industry until they are a master of current issues facing typical buyers in each vertical industry.

3. A master of asking the right questions: the best selling gurus ask intelligent questions about prospects needs. They will quickly move from early fact types of questions into questions that probe deeper into implications of cost, pain, emotional value, and implication.

4. A master at directing the buying process to successful solution. The most masterful salesperson focused on expanding the need, then asking if-then questions to lead to yes. Able to expand the need by probing deeper. This is the quality of the ability to LISTEN and then take that information and expand even deeper. They are able to ask questions throughout the selling process that gains commitment to the salesperson's products and services and that results in each RFP (request for proposal) being driven to favor the salesperson's company.

5. A master at relating the company solution from their company to the customer's perceived emotional needs and logical needs. The best salespeople sell to the emotion, and support their emotional argument by providing irrefutable facts backing up their claims.

6. A master of disguise. The best salespeople are not always obvious to the customer. Many of them have already figured out the client before the client even knows they're being sold to and as a result the salesperson's sales results are considerably higher.

7. A master of proposing the company's products and services, yet able to come across genuine and down-to-earth. The best salespeople are not arrogant. They usually are extremely approachable and very good at presenting the company in the best light. They are quick on their feet, and always able to take a negative and quickly spin it back to make the company look better.

8. A master of describing solutions in terms of benefits and other user's or customer's experiences. The best salespeople are talking about third party and first party references throughout their entire sales process. Nothing is more powerful than a reference from someone the client trusts. The best salespeople know this and use it to their advantage.

9. A master at getting a yes while staying within the buying curve. The best salespeople know their is a buying window. When the buyer goes past the time curve on that window, they may lose the sale. Each industry's window may be different, but the best salespeople stay inside the window and deliver the deal in the most efficient manner possible.

Want to learn more? Sign up for Cold To Gold: Advanced Prospecting Methods To Overcome Fear, Get In The Door, and Build Long-Lasting Successful Relationships - a modern selling program with slides, screen prints, telephone courses, audio downloads, e-book, and bonus downloads and links. The author of this program has a long history of building successful sales relationships and blowing away quotas. Learn more from a master you can trust at Cold To Gold.
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Copyright © 2008 by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All rights reserved. Cold To Gold and ARRiiVE Business Solutions are trademarks of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939.

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The #1 Best Sales Copy Of All Time

I've been studying sales copy in order to improve sales at my websites and through sales letters for clients in my sales training programs and sales consulting services.

Have you wondered what it takes to write good copy?

Well, as it turns out, there's a method to the madness. That's right: you don't have to sound like a salesperson to write good copy. In fact, I found the trick to write good copy is much like telling a good story:

Twenty years ago, two business majors graduated from college. They both went to the same school. They both were about the same height, and roughly the same intelligence. Wind the clock forward twenty years later and these two graduates are now working professionals, only one is a Manager at a company; the other, the company President. What's the difference?

We'd all like to know what sets these two people apart. After all, they're both men in their early forties, both are married with two kids, and both of them enjoy playing a round of golf on the weekend.

What's the difference?

Why did one professional rise to Manager, while the other ended up running the joint?

Well, that's where the copy comes into play. You may notice, this copy sets up a story... you're on a journey, you're interested in what could possibly have set these two people in different directions, even though they seemingly had the same aspirations, education, intelligence, and background. There is no reason to think one would end up any better off than the other; yet, that is exactly what happens.

It's the same with good copy: the site with good copy outsells the site with poor copy. I'm helping people write better copy and improve their scripts all the time. And, you'd be shocked how FEW have taken the time to master this important skill of writing powerful copy. I'm not sure it is because they are lazy procrastinators, get blocked, or because they fail to make the effort; more rather, I think it is because they simply don't know how to do it.

How Do I Do It?

Knowing this, I decided to set off on a search for good copy. I've been studying the top copy writers I can find. I even searched out the #1 best sales copy of all time, a letter inviting subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal. This search led me to all types of copy, some amazingly simple and brilliantly crafted, other copy quite funny, and some, well, let's just say it needed a round file. The search for the best copy of all time produced a wide array of information that could be broken down into three steps. In doing so, I determined the following three rules are critical to writing your own copy:

1. Find other copy in your industry, selling a product as similar or exactly the same as what you are selling.

2. Determine which stacks of copy (or sites) are successful (Google PR, Alexa, Subscriptions, Sales Volume, etc.) and which ones suck (again, same criteria).

3. Swipe your copy from those stacks of copy and rewrite with your own story, in your own words, as closely as you can without plagiarizing the original best copy.

There is an art to writing good copy, just as there is an art to writing good content on a website. If you're going to improve your business, it is probably beneficial for you to learn both skills. After all, the person who has the greatest mastery of his or her native tongue rises to the top of their profession, almost without fail. Writing good copy and good content is akin to mastering your tongue.

What sets the best apart from the rest?

If you are in sales or managing an organization, and wondering what sets the best apart from the rest, look no further than copy: in my history of selling and managing, I've found that 98% of success can be found from the person who held the linguistic golden keys to the verbal skills safe of language success: the person who can write great copy.

This is why a script is so important in prospecting, selling process, and closing deals. If you haven't scripted out successful salespeople, and followed them around to see what they're doing to write all that business, then you're either arrogant or a fool. Either way, you're blowing it!

You can do it, too!

Oh, and before I leave, I want to share that I'm including some of my top tips in writing good copy for prospecting in my newest program, "Cold To Gold: Modern Methods to Overcome Fear, Get In and Build Long-lasting Successful Business Relationships" I'm offering these tips, along with valuable techniques to (a) get more phone calls returned, (b) get more emails opened and clicked-through, and (c) get more appointments. These are based upon real selling situations I've faced throughout my career.

I'm probably crazy to share this mountain of information used to close deal after deal in my own past selling successes, but I figure why not help others succeed the way I did? How many successful salespeople stopped to tell you their secrets of how they got the critical appointments that won them millions in business? I've had a few who blessed me along the path of my own journey, and feel the need to pay it forward to help you, too. I'm also sharing how to get more sales in less time. Because, if you ask me, if you begin the right way, you're more likely to end the right way: with the customer shaking your hand, thrilled to be doing business with you. And, when that happens, it takes less time, fewer calls, and less sweat to succeed.

I know I can't guarantee the success that you might have, as you might only apply part of what I teach, or you might augment it with other things you've learned. But I can promise you that you will like what you've learned, you will find it both entertaining and informative, and you will find my sincere desire to continually add to the program subscription. My personal guarantee is if you don't find the information in the program sufficient to contribute to your success, simply cancel the subscription and I will refund to you 100% of the money you've paid me: no questions asked (although feedback IS appreciated).

So, before I change my mind and start offering this program for the $2,500 minimum I charge for in-person training, you might want to give it a visit and see how this program might benefit you. I'm grateful for your visit.

One last thing: I found the copy from that ad that beat the #1 ad of all time at this site:
http://www.maldecker.com/images/wsj_letter.pdf. Check it out and see if it doesn't compel you to want to act on their letter. If you feel you're not ready to write copy like this, yourself, well, there are always copywriters who can help you out. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon to learn more about ways to boost your success. I'll be writing more on the #1 best sales copy of all time in the future, along with providing more useful suggestions to help you master your success in your own journey.
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Post by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

ARRiiVE Business Solutions helps executives improve sales, launch products and services, and build dynamic, cross-functional collaborative teams. For more information, contact info (at)ARRiiVE (dot) com or call us at 1 (805) 459-6939. Copyright © 2007 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. Part of this article is referring an article by Mal Decker, published in the Wall Street Journal. No infringement intended.

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