I have the opportunity to talk to multiple sales professionals every day. Some of them are just getting started out in sales and struggling to get their first few thousand in commission. Others seem to have settled into a $40,000 to $50,000 per year income which is honestly sad because they know they could make so much more! Then, there are those sales people who truly want to maximize their earning potential. Many of them have been making between $50,000 to $70,000 for 3 or 4 years straight but the illusive six figure income seems out of reach. Here are 3 reasons that you may not have achieved a six figure income. I challenge you to think through each of these and determine which of them may apply to you.
#1 – Your sales skills are not really as good as you think they are. When is the last time you read a sales book? Have you read new books on sales such as, “The Challenger Sale?” Are you following current day sales training and learning how the market is changing and what approaches work best?
Many sales people who want to make six figures but can’t seem to pull it off think they are God’s gift to B2B sales but actually their techniques are out of date and seem rehearsed and stale to the prospect. If you want to increase your earnings at B2B sales, you need to understand that a six figure income in any career is reserved for the best of the best. You need to brush up your sales skills and make sure you have what it takes.
#2 – You are in the wrong industry. If you constantly find yourself “creating the need” for what you sell, I would advise you to look for a new opportunity. You can’t make six figures if you have to spend the entire first visit convincing someone that they need the service you are offering. One reason I love merchant services is that every business owner needs to accept a credit card. Yes it is competitive and of course you have to be able to sell in order to hit six figures, but at least 95% of most business owners recognize that they need the service we are offering.
One of the big differences between sales and marketing in my mind is that marketing departments should be creating the need or at least the awareness for the product or service being offered. It is then the sales person’s job to leverage that awareness to customize a solution for the prospect and close the deal. If you are trying to market and sell your services, you may be in the wrong industry. Also, some industries simply have no competitive advantages left. Again, this is not your job. Your job is to sell something of value. If the company you work with or the industry in which you work hasn’t created a solid value proposition, it is time to look elsewhere.
#3 – Your commission plan prevents a six figure income. Does anyone doing exactly what you do in the same industry make over $100,000 per year? If not, your commission plan probably doesn’t even allow you to make that much. The most common reason for this is a commission plan that only pays up front compensation and salary. You can certainly make $100,000 per year selling real estate or being a stock broker, however having a recurring component to your commission makes it much, much easier. If you are in an industry where you only make money one time on a sale and you can’t seem to break the six figure ceiling, let me recommend finding an industry like merchant services where you will probably not make six figures the first year, but your efforts will multiply over time as you increase your book of business.
Take some time to think through each of these issues and evaluate your current sales job with an open mind. If you would like to learn more about the merchant services industry and you have significant B2B sales experience, schedule a call with me by visiting http://www.ccsalespro.com/schedule
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