From the publisher: Drive and perseverance in sales

I love this quote and think it speaks volumes for many businesses.

And yet it seems more these days that people are shying away from sales. How many traditional sales jobs have new titles with words like development, solutions and engagement when at its core, it’s sales?

And I have yet to meet a college kid who got any practical sales education at school.

Sales is critically important for businesses and comes with high rewards.

We talk a lot about the income disparity between men and women. Sales is still a male-dominated profession. The career website Zippia.com reported that 58% of sales professionals are male. The Harvard Business Review reported that only one in three women are in business-to-business sales jobs.

So when asked to present at the El Paso Chamber’s Women in Business conference a few weeks ago, I decided to talk about sales.

To prepare I read a couple of traditional sales books, a bunch of articles and applied a journalistic approach. I interviewed four sales professionals across different industries whom I knew were highly successful.

My goal was to try to find some practical tips, tricks or the secret to success that I could share with others.

You might think that success in sales comes down to who’s most eloquent, the smoothest talker, a skilled people person. I would label that salesmanship – what you think of as presenting persuasively. But after all the interviews I did, this skill was the least talked about.

What did become immediately obvious was that all my sales professionals had one thing in common: Drive.

Drive comes from within. I don’t think you can teach drive or motivate anyone to it. Either you find and apply it, or you don’t. If you have it, you can probably figure the rest out no matter how scared, awkward or unpolished you are at the start.

The other key trait was perseverance. I differentiate this from drive. Drive is about the willingness and energy for hard work. Perseverance is more about optimism – never giving up, being willing to chip away, understanding that small steps lead to big things, and not being discouraged by setbacks or rejection.

When you combine drive and perseverance, you’re going to create success. This is probably true of any challenge or career.

On top of that, all of the sales professionals I visited placed a very high priority on prospecting – always prospecting. Prospecting is kind of like eating or sleeping: No matter how busy you are, you can’t ignore it or you’re done. And more than just networking and calling on people, it was thinking about strategic ideas. Thinking outside of the box and how to help others.

When it comes to practical tips, one sales professional told me, “Time management is your No. 1 skillset.” Mastering this is hard and few start their careers knowing how. But it’s how you make sure you work in time for all that prospecting while not dropping the ball managing existing clients. It makes a good case for offering time management training to entry-level employees.

Along with managing time, there is great value in tracking work and analyzing it. Often the answer to what is and isn’t working isn’t in some sales book. It’s in what you are or aren’t doing, and where your time is spent. If you can figure out where success is happening, prioritize that. Are you wasting time on areas with low returns? Let those go. Are you as productive as you think you are or as busy as you feel? The data will tell the story and is where you will find lucky breaks. Luck is, after all, where preparation meets opportunity.

And finally, with a handle on time management and productivity, you set yourself up for the most important skillset for a career in sales: building relationships and establishing trust.

No one likes being sold to, but they do want to buy something they think will help them. The best salespeople don’t feel they are selling at all. They are helping others get what they need and want.