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A License to Sell By Timothy F. Bednarz, PhD, American Management Development Group

Your professional experience and expertise gives you a license to sell. Without product knowledge, competitive knowledge and customer knowledge you are unable to succeed in a highly competitive world. Many customers refuse to even provide a novice or uninformed sales person with the time of day.

They expect the sales people they deal with to be knowledgeable about their industry, company, the products they are selling and the expertise to apply them. They have little time or patience to educate the sales person.

Implications to the Sales Person

Many sales people fail to succeed because they are unable to put their knowledge and expertise to profitable use. But knowledge alone doesn’t provide all the tools you need to succeed, but it does provide a solid foundation for success.

Combine the following steps with a strong foundation of solid product, competitive and customer knowledge and you’ll obtain a license to sell. Indeed, you’ll find the customers will want to buy from you. Without it, you will find many doors slammed in your face.

The Application

What are the tools that you need to take you to the top of your profession? Success in any profession does not happen by accident. It takes time, effort, commitment and dedication. In the sales profession, what may be taken for granted in other professions as the recipe for success, simply provides the sales person with the right to present and sell their products to their customers.

A list of the critical elements of success include:

Know What You Want to Achieve Everyone needs to have a vision of where they want to go. What’s the top of your mountain? Define that and you’ve defined your personal vision.

Be Committed to Your Personal Goals Are you committed to getting to the top of your mountain? Are you willing to put the sweat and hard work you need to get there? If you’re not prepared to commit to your vision, define a new one or find a new profession.

Have a Plan Everyone needs a plan. What are the steps you need to take to climb your mountain? These are your goals and objectives.

Prioritize Your Goals and Objectives Once you have defined your goals and objectives you’ll need to prioritize them in order of importance to advance you forward to the achievement of your vision. If they don’t move you closer to the top of the mountain, then toss them out.

Focus Your Time on the Highest Priorities Spend you time on the highest priorities. It’s easy to get side tracked on the side issues that clutter our lives and take up the bulk of our time. Invest your time on the priorities that give you the highest return and move you closer to the top of your mountain.

Finally, if you are fortunate to reach the top of your mountain, then what do you do? Find another mountain to climb. Redefine your vision and start all over again.

Something to Think About

Selling is a profession and not simply a job. With that in mind, consider the following points:

1. Have you ever found the doors slammed in your face or a sale lost due to your lack of knowledge and expertise? Explain.

2. How have you use your knowledge and expertise to create a competitive advantage over your competition? Explain.