The ACE factor in selling
There are three essentials needed to succeed in selling.
The customer is king, everybody knows this, the customer comes first and must be treated right in any business or else they will vote with their feet and go elsewhere. So eventually even in the largest organisations there will be no business!
Anyone succeeding in customer service or in selling will tell you the same and more, they know this is true almost automatically it is part of them, their ethics, and their very ethos.
However what is not so clear is what the central characteristics needed by those that convince the king to buy from them are. Yes these can be many and varied, but I can assure you that the fundamentals don’t change from the entry level through to the CEO of any organisation.
I developed what I call the ACE Factor many years ago in the field with my salespeople when I was employed in industry in the late 80’s. I later used it, and still do in some of the sales training modules I sell. ACE stands for Attitude / Confidence / Enthusiasm.
ATTITUDE
This is the first of the three and in the right place as it must be in place before one can become confident let alone enthusiastic.
The right attitude is either inside you or not, a positive attitude is not something you can turn on and turn off. Yes I know some do play lip service and some even use a mask to hide their true feelings, but if this is the case sooner or later they will be found out.
Those with the correct attitude will eventually prevail. Attitude is central to the company culture in the best of companies, it dictates progress, motivation and is behind the resulting momentum.
Attitude has a lot to do with ones personality, and this can be effected by ones background, upbringing and conditioning to this world. The attitude you display is in your very first thoughts, check this out next time you are asked something difficult, what are your very first thoughts? Because it is there that the answer lies, whatever your first thoughts are that’s what it will be, if it is yes then yes it will be, if no then it will not!
Attitude it is part of our very mind-set, it shows up in our posture and will determine ones outlook on life and every task one faces. Attitude is something that can be measured but it is not something that can be trained in later. Positive attitude is close to hope, it is close to optimistic and constructive. Attitude unless negative is almost the opposite of pessimistic. Attitude is the first thing we have to get right, the first of the three vital ingredients to do well in selling and in life in general.
CONFIDENCE
In the main our second factor is the direct result of a combination of experience and knowledge, and our level of confidence is set by our success in the use of both.
Confidence will build trust with the customer, after all whom if anybody would buy from a salesperson that has little or no confidence in their product.
ENTHUSIASM
The word enthusiasm, our last of the three essential attributes needed when selling comes from the Greek enthousiasmos meaning literally ‘possessed by a god’.
So that an enthusiast, in the strict sense of the word, is someone filled with an almost divine passion, a passion that goes beyond reason, a passion, which is not daunted by setbacks, not whittled away by failure, not quenched by apathy, misunderstanding or rejection.
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.
Emerson
Real enthusiasm can’t be faked, it comes immediately once one has the right attitude and level of confidence. The enthusiast enriches his or her own life and by extension almost inevitably, the lives of others. This is certainly true of the best in sales.
Genuine enthusiasts get things done. They are the ones that stay to the end of the course. Show me somebody at the top at anything and I will show you an enthusiast.
“Selling is the transference of enthusiasm”
Johnny Herbert
Want to know more? Check out my A to Z of Selling.
