9 Rules To Be A Self-Made Sales Millionaire
Do you want to be a sales millionaire? If yes…
Question: “Are you likable?”
It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. What are you selling? Who you are selling to? Where you are selling?
Your first impression matters.
As a matter of fact, according to recent research, 7 seconds is all you need to form a long-lasting impression of a stranger. And this article is going to show you how to make a good impression.
But why does this even concerns me in an article about the Rules of a Sales Millionaire?
The first impression you give will have the biggest influence on how others respond to you.
Either Positively, or Negatively.
“Will you buy something from a rude jerk you hate, or someone you like?”
In a recent study, researchers observed 1,092 people during a three-minute speed-dating session. The results show their success or failure is determined during their first 7 seconds of interaction.
Whatever you say after that 7 seconds, trying to undermine their opinions, it just didn’t matter.
Research shows:
Your first impression trumped facts and logic.
Starting your career in sales is hard, but you can make your life easier. The key is to win a client’s trust and thus the business.
Make your client trust you.
The foundation of this key is to know that your first interaction with them is everything. If you come in strong with confidence and style, you path a smooth journey to completing the whole deal.
Build rapport and provide the service that will benefit them, if the client likes what you give, they will want to get more of it.
Here are 9 rules that 21 self-made Millionaires follow to make Millions from Sales to reach Millionaire status before they are 30.
And No. 9 is the most important!
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What Are The 9 Rules of Successful Sales?
1. Stop The Jargon
Stop throwing your vocabulary around! Industry jargon simply turns people off. With all through industrial jargon, you will definitely lose them in just a few minutes of your presentation, industrial jargon will simply make them feel like an outsider.
No clients like to feel like an outsider, ever!
People only do business with those who make them feel comfortable, and your job is to make them feel comfortable. Make them feel secure about what they do and understand what they do not know.
Your job is to help them solve a problem and to understand you are the person who is able to solve their problem. Fancy words make you sound arrogant and confused.
Speak with simplicity, transparency, and clarity. Or lose money.
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2. Listen The Right Way
Do you like the feeling of being ignored when you talk?
I don’t. And I believe your client doesn’t like to be ignored as well.
To listen when others are talking is a form of basic respect.
To listen to your clients when they are talking is respecting them as well.
TWO forms of listening:
- Listen so you may know how to re-buck them (Bad)
- Listen so you may understand them (Good)
And you should always choose the latter, which is to understand their needs. Listen like your life depends on it, because your business surely does.
Let your clients know that you are here to help them, and not just for the money.
Sometimes, you might also meet some people who ask questions just so they can talk about themselves. Don’t be tempted to talk back.
Remember to hold that temptation and keep your mouth closed with your ears wide open.
Try to really get to know the person and think of what they truly need and provide value.
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3. Be Generous & Genuine With Compliments
Have you ever felt the warm and tingled feeling when your parents compliment you for being such a good boy or girl? Do you like that feeling?
People love to get compliments and this helps to build rapport. But note not to go overboard with the compliments, or it will come in as fake.
Be Generous, and Be Genuine with your compliment.
Listen to the other person’s needs and reinforce their opinions when it is going in the right direction.
Be true to yourself in helping your clients in making the best decision.
A real estate agent can look for elements of the property that you like and tell the owner.
“That marble flooring makes the room looks amazing.”
“Lovely, that unique combination of the color of the house makes it feels so warm and cozy.”
“I love the design of this house, the layout is just perfect.”
Such compliments are true to the things that you like about the house (product); these compliments are pointed towards an objective item that you truly appreciate.
Which in turn helps you to make money!
Happy clients, Close Deals!
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4. Keep Eye Contact
Eye contact is the basis of human interaction. It is a piece of advice first taught by your parents and then by your teacher. If someone is talking to you, you look at the person. When someone is talking, you don’t look at something else, or look at a random pretty girl down the street (Or did you?).
But anyway in Body Language 101 Basic
Have Eye Contact
- If your eyes dart around the room as you talk, you will give the impression that you are hiding something.
- If your eyes dart around the room as he/she talks, you will give the impression that you are not listening.
Both are very bad for business!
But remember eye contact is not a staring contest!
You definitely don’t want to start staring at your potential clients and make them feel uncomfortable, or even creepy.
A second or two of eye contact is all you need. Meet the other person’s eyes when they start talking before looking at whatever it is that they may be talking about, it can be a hand gesture or something they are showing you. Every few moments, make eye contact again.
Making eye contact is hard and can be uncomfortable for some who are shy. While some people are naturally fidgety and are almost impossible to make eye contact.
Hard as it may seem, you just need to get over it. Having good eye contact will make or break your deal and your business.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Practice with a mirror or practice with a friend whom you can trust. Ask him/her if it feels natural.
Practice is the key.
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5. Be Like Them
According to Psychological studies performed in 1998 (Andersen, 1998), and 2005 (Balinson & Yee, 2005) as reported in Psychologytoday.com, overall mimicry make people like you.
People in general are attracted to people who are similar to them. Of course, we are not asking you to mirror your client’s every single move, it will really creep them out! At least I will find it weird and uncomfortable.
What you should do instead?
If you are talking to someone who speaks softly, calm your voice. Don’t be overbearing and overwhelm them with your big personality.
In the contrast, if your client has a big personality with a strong, firm voice. Don’t speak too softly, tune your voice slightly similar to your client. But don’t overdo it, or it will become unnatural and uncomfortable.
The goal is to make them feel comfortable talking to you.
Sales and Job interviews are great examples of the importance of a great first impression. If you act and sound too different, you might lose your opportunity, because ‘you are not a good fit for the culture of the team or as business partners.
Example 1: The client which your competitor is trying to sell is a professional with a soft-spoken voice and your competitor act like a punk talking with broken English and vulgarities. I doubt, he/she will get the business. It just feels that they are from a different world.
Example 2: The client is a professional working in the CDB area with a soft-spoken voice, you act as a professional and soften your voice when you talk. You act and speak in the same language as your client. The client will probably find it more comfortable talking to you than that punk salesman down the street.
The word is balance.
Being like them is important in sales. It is a proven sales strategy that works.
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6. Practice Till You Make It
Some call it, Fake it till you make it. But I prefer the name, Practice Till You Make It.
You don’t fake what you do, but you practice what you should do.
No one is a born salesman. Maybe just a selected few who are better in sales. But if you practice your art of sales and learn from each mistake. You will be better in no time.
Surround yourself with people who you are aspired to be, learn from their strengths, and be humble to ask for their guidance.
When you want to lose weight, you don’t surround yourself with people who eat fast food every day. You will probably be fatter if not, the same weight as 6 months ago when you first decided to lose weight.
But instead, you will gear up in your sports gear and get a gym membership. Surround yourself with people who eat healthily and enjoy exercising.
Success is about re-training your mind. Practice till you make it is about letting yourself move closer to your goal.
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7. Greet By Name
Your name is your identity. People love it when others call them by their names. It is a show of respect and how important is that person to you.
People who are great at building rapport use others’ names every time they see them. Even during the conversation, people feel validated when the person they’re speaking with refers to them by name.
Imagine when you meet someone after the first meeting, she greets you by name will such passion and warmth like an old friend whom she long to see.
How will you feel?
Good?
That’s exactly how you should let your client feel when you meet them.
If you are like me, you are great with faces but always have tonnes of trouble with names.
Try this fun brain exercise.
- Repeat that name when the person tells you their name. This will confirm that you will remember the correct name, as well as reinforce your mind in linking that name with the client.
- Think of some unique features of the client and link the name to the features of the client. i.e. The client is tall, muscular, and named John. You can remember him as ‘John the Muscular’.
This will help you to build neural links to remember the names of the person by anchoring the description with the name.
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8. Dress For The Occasion
The first impression is everything. Dress like a “beggar” and your client will run away. Dress in a style that screams “success” and your client may see you like their own.
Dress in clean and neat attire is the basic requirement, but if you want to impress. Prepare a clean and polished outfit that is nicely pressed and personally fits your size in the trunk of your car. You may need them more than you think.
If a billionaire meets you on a yacht in his Hawaii shirt and sneakers, you should still come polished in a perfectly pressed suit. Don’t ever wear a pair of slippers and shorts to meet your client even if the meeting is on a beach. You are there to sell not to enjoy the sun and sea.
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9. Know Positivity Attracts
Positive Energy is infectious. If you want people to like you, smile at them during a conversation. Be upbeat and passionate. Don’t ever be a downer or a whiner.
Positive energy attracts positive feedback.
If you smile, they will unconsciously return the favor by relaxing and smiling, feeling good as a result.
If you are passionate about your product, they will be interested in why are you so passionate and how will it help them.
No one like to be with someone who is always uninterested, and always complains about anything and everything. It is like there is always a dark cloud looming over his forehead, screaming ‘keep away.
Be like that person in class who is always so optimistic and brings sunshine and warmth to the people around him/her. The person who always smiles and gives positive energy wherever he/she goes.
Like most people, your client will like to talk to someone who makes them feel comfortable and is pleasant to be with.
Positivity Attracts. Negativity Repels.
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Bringing It All Together
First Impression is one of the most important aspects of your success in closing that deal. The ability to be likable is invaluable and important.
People who are likable network with ease, promote harmony wherever they go, bring out the best in everyone around them, and generally, people love to be around them, which includes your clients.
9 important rules taught by the 21 successful sales millionaires are:
- Stop the Jargon
- Listen
- Be Generous & Genuine With Compliments
- Eye Contact
- Be like them
- Practice Till You Make It
- Greet By Name
- Dress The Occasion
- Positive Attracts
Learn these rules, and it can definitely help you to have that competitive edge over your competitors.
Success is not made overnight, but through determination and the conviction to keep learning and getting better.
Wisdom from Billionaire Oprah Winfrey:
“What we dwell on is who we become.”
Remember the difference between success and failure is what you know, and what actions you take.
Here are some resources that will help in guiding you to your success.
- Investing Books to Riches
- Business Startup Books
- Leadership Books for aspiring Leaders
- Sales Books to Wealth and Success
- Life-Changing Books to a Future of Success
What guides me in my journey are some of the many books I read over the past years. There are also many words of wisdom said by those who have achieved what we want to achieve and learning from them is the shortcut to our goals.
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Antony C. is a dividend investor with over 15+ years of investing experience. He’s also the book author of “Start Small, Dream Big“, certified PMP® holder and founder of IncomeBuddies.com (IB). At IB, he share his personal journey and expertise on growing passive income through dividend investing and building online business. Antony has been featured in global news outlet including Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq and Non Fiction Author Association (NFAA).
