The 25 Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople

Is the Book Useful?

25 Habits, Why so many ? Is this book useful ?

The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople is easy to read.
It's intended to be a good overview of what sales success is all about.
It's not just a collection of persuasion techniques.
Even if you're an experienced sales pro you should find that there are things you could improve upon in what's explained..
A sort of "self check" for all levels of sales reps. It's has simple, workable, common sense actions.

The author of The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople, Stephan Schiffman, has attempted to succinctly describes 25 effective sales techniques.

Each tip gets a short chapter with a nugget of advice;
an example or two and a pat on the back to send you out the door charged up and ready to go.

How to Use This Book

The idea is to refer to it before a call, after a rejection or just to start the day.

Having short chapters certainly allows a quick review of a single concept or habit.

This also allows you to read the book in bits increasing the chances of a salesperson actually finishing it.

Given that 90% of sales people don't pick up a book in any given year to improve their performance and, of the 10% who read a book even fewer finish it much less apply what they have read on a consistent basis it's a good idea to keep the chapters short.

They key to getting long-term value out of a book like The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople is to practice what you read.
I know that when I was applying various techniques I learned in the past my results went up on a consistent basis.

Some would argue it is more of a feel good, hey here are a few ideas that may help you in general type book.

Some may argue, there is not enough "how-to" between the covers.

Personally, my problem is in the number of habits it puts forward.

25 is a hard number to track. 
The old sales rule is KISS ( Keep it Short and Simple).

It's even written in the bible that people complained TEN Commandments was too many to follow and Jesus reduced it to two.

I must admit that I hesitated when I wrote The Top Ten Professional Selling Skills because I though there may be too many skills to track.

The idea with a book like The 25 Sales habits of highly successful salespeople is to set up a schedule to go over the habits again and again.

This was a tactic employed by the famous Ben Franklin.
Ben had a list of 13 character traits he wanted to possess.
Each week of his life Ben would focus on one of these traits, to the point of carrying a note book with him each day and recording when he exhibited the trait and when he failed to apply it.
Since there was 13 traits Ben cycled through each one 4 times a year.

So with The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople you only get to repeat each habit twice a year and I don't think that's enough.

I have company tax forms that I fill in quarterly and just barely remember what I have to do each time.
The annual tax returns and company statements are always a voyage of discovery, although the Government often changes the rules and/or the forms that makes it harder.

What Are the 25 Habits?

So what are The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople, according to Stephan Schiffman ?

1. Communicate The Message That It’s Sound Business To Trust You.
2. Asking The Right Question
3. Taking The Lead
4. Engaging The Prospect
5. Finding Key Requirements
6. Converting The Leads That Fall Into Your Lap
7. Knowing How To Make Your Product Or Service Fit Somewhere Else
8. Pretending You’re A Consultant
9. Asking For The Next Appointment, While You’re On The First Visit
10. Taking Notes
11. Creating A Plan With Each New Prospect
12. Asking For Referrals
13. Showing Enthusiasm
14. Giving Yourself Appropriate Credit
15. Telling The Truth
16. Selling Yourself On Yourself
17. Starting Early
18. Reading Industry Publications
19. Supporting Your Visit The Next Day
20. Giving Speeches To Business And Civic Groups
21. Passing Along Opportunity When It’s Appropriate
22. Taking Responsibility For Presentations That Go Haywire
23. Being Honest With Yourself About The Nature Of The Firm You Work For
24. Telling Everyone You Meet Who You Work For And What You Sell
25. Keeping Your Sense Of Humour

You can buy The 25 habits of highly successful salespeople by clicking the picture below