It is a fact that most people who enter the world of selling fail hopelessly. It is also a fact that most of the others are just scraping by. Yet there are some salespeople that are consistently making a fortune year in and year out. How do they do it? Read on and you will find out.

Sales is no different to any other profession in that it takes a lot of dedicated time and energy to learn what you need to know to be one of the greats. But if you are willing to put in that time and energy then you too can be joining the ranks of the sales elite and be enjoying huge financial rewards.

The first attribute of great salespeople is that they love selling.

If you don't believe that you can fall in love with the game of selling then start looking for a different career that you can love. Regardless of the field of endeavor the people at the top will always be people with a passion for that profession.

The second attribute of great salespeople is that they know their craft inside out.

There are five craft specific skills that you have to master in order to excel at selling. They are sales techniques, negotiation techniques, general people skills, self discipline and time management.

The great salespeople are students of their craft. They are sponges for knowledge and improvement and are always reading, listening to audios, attending seminars, and doing whatever it takes to improve their skill sets.

Ordinary salespeople only do the training that their employers provide. Great salespeople accept full personal responsibility for achieving greatness and are more than happy to invest their own time and money into doing whatever it takes to become a champion in their field.

The third attribute of great salespeople is that they know their own product and their target industry inside out.

How would you feel if you were scheduled for major brain surgery and you asked your surgeon a question and he answered that he didn't know but he was planning to read up on it the night before your operation? You expect the surgeon to already be an expert in his field and that's exactly what clients expect of a salesperson.

The truth is that most salespeople are too lazy to learn their craft, their product or their market and they are out there trying to wing it and complaining that it's all too hard. Of course it's too hard if you don't know what you are doing!

The great salespeople take the time required to know everything about their product and to know what their target market wants from the product. They learn the language of the target market and they are well equipped to understand and answer relevant questions in a way that will increase the prospects confidence in the product, the salesperson and the supplying company.

The fourth attribute of great salespeople is that they are highly motivated to succeed.

Great salespeople aren't just filling in time with the aim of scraping by. Great salespeople are highly motivated to be the best and to earn in the top bracket of their profession. They take pride in their accomplishments and they hate missing a sale.

Great salespeople have big goals for their life and the standard of lifestyle that they expect to enjoy. They are highly motivated to continually improve on their results and to continually increase their earnings. They are big picture oriented and see each day as a step toward achieving their big picture outcomes.

The fifth attribute of great salespeople is that they have a great sales support system that allows them to do what they are best at; selling to the client.

The great salespeople know that the greater percentage of their time they can spend in front of prospective clients the higher their earnings will be. You don't find great salespeople wasting their time doing tasks that a lower paid sales assistant could be doing for them. They choose to work for organizations who understand that every great salesperson needs a great sales backup team.

Concluding Remarks

If you are in sales then rank yourself on the above five attribute of the great salespeople and see how you score. If you are falling short on any of those five points then you know what you need to do in order to massively increase your sales results and your personal earnings. Now it's time for you to take responsibility for your own success and do what it takes.