The Seven Virtues of Sales

Empathy

Empathy is a useful way to understand another person's thoughts and feelings and see it from their point of view. So why, when we get the opportunity to build a business relationship, do we do the complete opposite and tell when we sell?

Great communicators will never tell someone why they should buy - but they will ask, why they wouldn't? Why don't you try for the next 20 minutes of your day to not tell anyone anything? All you are allowed to do is ask questions to come to the conclusion you want to achieve.

Try it - it really works!

That's why empathy is a virtue.

Urgency

Stop procrastinating. Face rejection right now.

There will always be another email to send but that call will still be waiting. You won't gain the same level of satisfaction out of a great email as you will out of a great call.

Urgency is one of the Seven Virtues of sales.

Perhaps you won't make that call right now because you don't feel comfortable? Everyone around you is on the phone but you're afraid. I'll let you into a secret: even I never feel totally comfortable with what I'm doing.

I always have a little bit of hesitation and a little bit of fear whenever I'm working. But I have learned to embrace it. And you should too. If you don't, you'll never truly learn how capable you could be.

That's why urgency is a sales virtue.

Determination

Go on give in like you normally do!

Let someone else be better than you are on the sales team, just because you have never finished first in the class. Give up just because the idea of getting to the person you actually want to do business with, seems like a huge mountain to climb.

Accept that you are not the sales person who should win the contract and then because you are so gracious even thank the prospect for being so kind for letting you know! In fact totally ignore this message because it doesn't apply to you. Bury your head in the sand like you normally do. Continue being mediocre at your best.

Alternatively, you could remember that you owe it to yourself and every person who puts faith in you to fight for every scrap of business out there. You can achieve a level of performance you never thought possible.

Try it for one day only! Good luck. Let me know how you get on.

You need determination to be a great salesperson.

Humility

Possibly the most important behaviour of all and the one that runs right through our organisation at Seven V, is humility. Take your ego and lay it to one side. Your large ego will make you defensive.

The minute you become defensive, you lose.

You ask the wrong questions, your behaviour changes, you won't allow the individual to whom you're talking to warm to you in the way that they could. There are thousands of great sales people but the greatest sales people never say they are great.

Be humble. It's a virtue.

Courage

We at Seven V believe bravery is a one-off isolated incident. There are lots of people who are brave but to be courageous is different. Courage shows a continual behavioural pattern. There is a massive difference between courage and bravery.

When I walk into an arena to make a sales call in front of a live audience I know there are so many sceptics watching. In order to do this, the behaviour I've had to continually have deep down inside, is courage.

But in the end, what really gives you courage is that you can never ever lose what you didn't have in the first place. Don't worry about losing an order you've never had.

Have the courage to be a fantastic salesperson.

Astuteness

What is astuteness?

An astute person is an individual who is capable of knowing the outcome of a subject matter, event or situation before it's even occurred, and no, they've not got a crystal ball.

An astute person reads signs, knows what's going on and understands the environment that they're working within. When we at Seven V are communicating and when we're involved in sales situations, we're like commercial detectives searching for the truth.

The truth as far as sales and communication is concerned is simple: qualify people - rule them in and rule them out. Don't be frightened of finding out which option it is. But don't sell yourself the idea that you've done a great job if you haven't.

Find out what the truth is and be astute.

Philosophy

The Seven V philosophy is to love everything you do.

That's what we do. We love everything that matters to us. and everything matters to us. From what our customer thinks of us, to how much they're listening and what we're saying, everything matters. However, nothing matters terribly.

Our philosophy is that sometimes one can take himself too seriously.

It is imperative to think Hey, so what? At the end of all your work. People really enjoy working with characters who have that quality. It is vital when you're trying to hit your targets, meet your clients and make the phone calls, to always adhere to this philosophy.

For more information from this section view one of the following:

Name	Surname

Phone	Email

Your selling challenge you'd like help with