{"id":3946,"date":"2014-07-16T05:17:36","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T05:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bme2.flywheelsites.com\/blog\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/"},"modified":"2020-01-16T22:08:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T22:08:27","slug":"the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, the marketing department has been hailed has the most important area for business development. In fact, in recent years marketing and sales have gone head to head over which department offers a business more profit-based value. Companies eyeing the problem through a more innovative lens have realized that sales and marketing departments should be working hand in hand because they both rely on each other to succeed and have the same overarching strategy. I would say that if really look at what motivates someone to convert into a customer, it would be sales. Even from a marketing perspective, as a marketer, I\u2019d say you can\u2019t really do your job unless you\u2019re thinking like a salesman.<\/p>\n

So our question is: how do you get to be a successful salesman?<\/p>\n

The 2 Golden Rules of Sales<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be successful in selling, you have to pair the art of communication with the science of psychology. A recent article in Inc. by Steve Cody, titled \u201cTips From the Best Salespeople I\u2019ve Ever Met,\u201d breaks down what any individual needs to turn great marketing strategies into a sales win.<\/p>\n

Cody underscores listening as a pivotal skill, citing that \u201c\u00fcber-sales executives don\u2019t utter a sound until they\u2019ve processed exactly what they\u2019ve seen and heard.\u201d Processing the signs your client is sending out involves knowing how to read people.<\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Ekman, an American psychologist and pioneer in the study of body language and micro expressions, has revolutionized how we read people. Ekman believes that most people tell you exactly what they think through the tiniest fractures in their expression \u2013 each of which can tell you exactly what the person is thinking, often before they\u2019ve even realized it themselves. It would be worth your weight in gold to follow his blog, read a couple of his books, and watch the TV series based on his work, Lie to Me.<\/p>\n

If the job of a salesman is to read people, there\u2019s no better crash course in learning just how to do that than through Dr. Ekman\u2019s work. In fact, I\u2019d say its something all employees and management can learn from.<\/p>\n

Getting back to our list, Cody also emphasizes applying the right amount of pressure, which means favoring sensitivity-based check-ins over \u201chigh-pressure sales tactics.\u201d This involves listening for people who want to work with you naturally and without coercion. For Cody, the sales process involves evaluating the client as much as you\u2019re being evaluated yourself. After all, you\u2019re engaging in a professional relationship and you want to work with clients who \u201care worthy of representation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Previous Generations Got Right When it Came to Sales<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales is also about conversation. Conversation is about rapport. Rapport is about trust. Before someone is going to trust you with their business, they want to know there\u2019s a connection there \u2013 a sense of amiability, which also ties into the rule that people do business with their friends. This is what older generations understood about sales. They valued the conversation just as much as the transaction. Today, not so much.<\/p>\n

For larger businesses, this means having a charismatic sales force that knows how to network, and then giving them the budget and time to do so. For more humble businesses, especially in a digital market place, this means taking to social media. Ideally, you want to have a social media manager (but also a community manager) that handles not only the social media side but the engagement side. They\u2019re striking up conversations on Facebook. They\u2019re data-mining through Twitter to see what the conversation is about your industry and then jumping right into it. Having a community manager is also what boosts your online presence beyond just having various social accounts \u2013 which in and of themselves are useless. Think of your community manager as the driver, and social media as the vehicle. The latter without the former, who can command movement and direction, is useless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent years, the marketing department has been hailed has the most important area for business development. In fact, in recent years marketing and sales have gone head to head over which department offers a business more profit-based value. Companies eyeing the problem through a more innovative lens have realized that sales and marketing departments…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":3947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art of Being a Great Salesman - in<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Art of Being a Great Salesman - in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In recent years, the marketing department has been hailed has the most important area for business development. In fact, in recent years marketing and sales have gone head to head over which department offers a business more profit-based value. Companies eyeing the problem through a more innovative lens have realized that sales and marketing departments…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shireen Qudosi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shireen Qudosi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shireen Qudosi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ef80bf829cd482f3bf6c28d6091cf4\"},\"headline\":\"The Art of Being a Great Salesman\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":675,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/great-salesman.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Beyond\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Being a Great Salesman - in\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/great-salesman.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/great-salesman.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/great-salesman.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":375},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Art of Being a Great Salesman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/\",\"name\":\"in\",\"description\":\"Email Marketing Software\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Benchmark Internet Group, LLC\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/benchmark-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/benchmark-logo.svg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"Benchmark Internet Group, LLC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ef80bf829cd482f3bf6c28d6091cf4\",\"name\":\"Shireen Qudosi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shireen Qudosi\"},\"description\":\"Shireen Qudosi is Benchmark Email's Online Marketing Specialist and Small Business Advocate. An Orange County based writer, Shireen specializes in online marketing and public relations. She has written for over 75 publications and has launched nine successful new media campaigns to date. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Denver Post, the Oklahoman and Green Air Radio, among others.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.benchmarkemail.com\\\/in\\\/author\\\/shireenqudosi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman - in","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman - in","og_description":"In recent years, the marketing department has been hailed has the most important area for business development. In fact, in recent years marketing and sales have gone head to head over which department offers a business more profit-based value. Companies eyeing the problem through a more innovative lens have realized that sales and marketing departments…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/","og_site_name":"in","article_published_time":"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shireen Qudosi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shireen Qudosi","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/"},"author":{"name":"Shireen Qudosi","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ef80bf829cd482f3bf6c28d6091cf4"},"headline":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman","datePublished":"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/"},"wordCount":675,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png","articleSection":["Beyond"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/","url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/","name":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman - in","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png","datePublished":"2014-07-16T05:17:36+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T22:08:27+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/10\/great-salesman.png","width":600,"height":375},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/the-art-of-being-a-great-salesman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Art of Being a Great Salesman"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/","name":"in","description":"Email Marketing Software","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#organization","name":"Benchmark Internet Group, LLC","url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/benchmark-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/benchmark-logo.svg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"Benchmark Internet Group, LLC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/#\/schema\/person\/e4ef80bf829cd482f3bf6c28d6091cf4","name":"Shireen Qudosi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/558ab8e78927bc045d7ebb8bc5239ccb256bfc5555a92639a69b9e0869a03814?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shireen Qudosi"},"description":"Shireen Qudosi is Benchmark Email's Online Marketing Specialist and Small Business Advocate. An Orange County based writer, Shireen specializes in online marketing and public relations. She has written for over 75 publications and has launched nine successful new media campaigns to date. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Denver Post, the Oklahoman and Green Air Radio, among others.","url":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/author\/shireenqudosi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benchmarkemail.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}