Secrets of Top Sellers 
Revealed

Selling is tough—there's no doubt about it. Customers demand more at the same time their loyalty is plummeting. Cutthroat competitors seem willing to give things away just to get the business. Even setting up meetings with new prospects can be a major ordeal. Busy decision-makers don't want 
to waste their time with product-pushing peddlers.There are many reasons why you can't sell today; I've heard them all. Yet some sellers are having their best year ever. They're not smarter and their products and services aren't superior. They simply look at things from a different perspective.

Here are some ways to be like the "best of the best."

Be Personally Accountable. Successful salespeople refuse to blame the economy, competitors, marketing, pricing or even customers for poor sales. These are merely obstacles that must be overcome. They accept personal responsibility for both their fails and sales, and believe they can impact their future results—a simple concept with far-reaching benefits.

When faced with difficult situations, average sellers bemoan their miserable fate and instead blame others. They expect management to fix the problem, they question their marketing department's actions, they want lowered sales quotas due to an unsteady economy, they want to be offered "good" training and they wonder when customers will stop being so demanding.

Have you made similar comments during a dip in your sales revenues? If so, this type of attitude only ends up deflecting the blame on others. If they do something different, then you can be successful. This, in turn, puts you into victim mode—you're stuck in a lousy situation over which you have no control.

Top sellers, on the other hand, take a different approach. For example, they will ask questions, including:

• What new skills do I need to learn to be more successful?

• What can I do to help marketing realize I need different tools to sell more?