Making sales calls is a learned habit. Some would think that this comes naturally to a sales person but it doesn’t. I have seen very accomplished and very polished sales people who do very poorly in sales and I have seen very average sales people do great things in sales. It all hinges on this one thing. Planning and making sales calls as part of a daily routine.

Over the past 26 years of selling hotels I have hired and trained many sales people. My success rate is very low. Ha. It is probably because I am poor trainer. That said, I have had very educated sales people that walk the walk and talk the talk and look good doing it. Many of these can’t sell their way out of a wet paper bag. Then,,,, I have hired and trained people that I just knew would not make it in this business. For the most part, these are the ones that make a difference. I suppose it comes down to desire to succeed. Many of the more polished people seem to have a way about them and feel they are “entitled.” It is as though they fully expect to succeed because of their history or education.

I have given up trying to predict if a sales person is successful or not because I am usually wrong. That said, there are some fundamental sale techniques that can be learned that increase the success rate. The first and most important one is to set a routine and habit of making new sales calls each day. It doesn’t have to be 100 calls a day. It can just be 2 calls a day. What many sales people don’t seem to grasp is that making 2 calls a day, gives you 10 more people a week that know your name or 40 more people a month. Much of the success in sales is about being available. I believe the greatest ability, is availability.

In sales, a new client that is interested in hiring you is literally the life blood of an organization. It is the hope of a company that holds it together. If new sale leads cease in a company, it could be the worst thing to happen. Trust me when I tell you that even through you may not think the staff is aware of this subtle change, they are. They know if the company is moving forward to standing still.

Therefore, if you are in a sales organization, making the decision to consistently make new sales calls on a planned, routine basis is the most important decision you can make. It also ensures that you will always have a job. KT