Key Skills for Prospective Sellers | Sales Tips

Last year, I was interviewed by Maclean's Magazine. They asked me what specific courses a student needed to take in order to get a good sales education coming out of university and going into the workplace.

My answers surprised them a little bit because I didn’t say they needed to take courses in business or political science or even English. These students need to take courses that really encouraged them to be creative and curious. Now why is that?

Top sales people are creative. They can find a solution for every question and for every problem sent their way. Top sellers are very curious as well. When they go into a prospect meeting, they are dying to ask questions to know every detail about that person, the business, the decision-makers, the problems, the successes, etc. They are never flummoxed by wondering what question they should ask next.

Creativity and curiosity are two traits of top performers that we all need to be working on.

The other trait that all salespeople should be working on is persistence. Anything that you can do to work on or manage your persistence is critical because in sales, we don’t always get what we want when we want it.

Sometimes we have to make one or two extra calls, send a third email, show up at a networking event, or ask for the sale one more time. Anything that you can be doing that focuses on improving your persistence is critical. At the university level, that can include sports. Sometimes being persistent in a team sport, as a runner or even a recreational weight trainer can help you develop the persistence that you’re going to need in business.

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