Monday Musings: How to Make More Sales

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Happy Monday, June Diaries readers! I got SUCH great feedback from my last Monday Musing, what will make you a successful recruiter, and it’s had my mind turning ever since. I have so many sales, recruiting, and career thoughts in my head every day that it’s hard to pick where to go next!

But… last week I hit my biggest sales goal to date and it led to a lot of questions on how to continue to grow your desk and, ultimately, how to get more sales. I’ve had my share of difficulties, setbacks, and breaks in my career…. but even through a pandemic, a long maternity leave, and everyday life I’ve managed to turn an increase in production every year. There’s a few things that I recommend to any new recruiter or sales professional I talk to – here’s a few of my tried and true tips on how to increase your sales over time.

Become an Expert

This REALLY should go without saying, but it takes time and a LOT of energy to become the cream of the crop salesperson. You need to become an EXPERT in your niche. No one is ever perfect, and no one knows everything – but you should know your industry and your competition well. If you’re just starting out – make it your goal to learn every day. Subscribe to industry related blogs. Make sure you are on LinkedIn, and engaging. Learn! Share! You don’t become an expert overnight, but you ESPECIALLY don’t become one if you don’t try to become one.

Brand Yourself

I have said many, many times that for most salespeople, you need to look at yourself like an influencer in your space. Just like how professional content creators/influencers on Instagram and TikTok carefully curate their image, salespeople must do the same within their space.

Where you do this will largely depend on your target clientele and industry. For me, it was Facebook. I joined groups, added a LOT of contacts within the travel nurse industry, and joined plenty of groups for travelers/recruiters both. It’s how I learned a lot in the beginning, but it’s also how I built my image.

I wanted to be seen within the travel nurse industry as honest, up front, straight to the point, and be viewed as an equal partnership. I made it quite clear from the beginning if candidates did not align with that philosophy, I could recommend other internal recruiters to them.

Building your brand isn’t just about how you communicate with people – it’s what you share, too. I always made sure to have personal photos on my Facebook and Review Pages. I use my professional headshot on LinkedIn, but when I connect with candidates I very much want to be seen as a “real” person – my family, my pets, travel and such take center stage on these more personal platforms.

I could write an ENTIRE blogpost (several, probably) on branding yourself but the long story short is – it works. At this point in my recruiting career I do not need to go and “hunt” for applicants, they come to me. Even when I try to turn them away they sometimes persist 😂 Don’t expect this to happen overnight – it takes SERIOUS time and consistent effort to build your following. Months to years, usually. But once it begins to happen, your sales will start doubling over and over!

Have a Mentor

This is such an important part of your growth in an industry, and in your own company. Having a mentor is so important – it helps you learn in the beginning, and motivate you during your ups and downs. It’s having someone consistent to cheer you on. It’s someone to brainstorm and toss ideas around with. You need someone to trust, to teach, and to help you realize your true potential.

We all need someone like this in life, and in work. Like all things, you may eventually outgrow your mentor and need to tap into someone new to continue to grow. This may tie into the next section….

Push Your Comfort Zone

Once you begin to have steady sales success, it’s easy to become complacent, go through your day to day, and collect your paychecks. In order to rise to the top of your profession, you’ll need to begin to challenge yourself to think outside the box. For example, If you’ve been finding all your clients/candidates in one certain way, you may need to begin to look at other ways of doing the job in order to blanket your coverage.

You really need to be a sort of chameleon in sales to have continued success and grow. All industries are ever evolving, and we as sales professionals need to as well. What works today may not work tomorrow. Try and stay on top of new trends and ways to influence, and it will allow you to stay ahead of the curve and continue to push your sales higher.

Confidence, Confidence, Confidence!

If you take NOTHING else from this article, take this one. Confidence in yourself, your product/service, and a true belief in what you are doing is what will make you thrive in the sales world. Don’t have confidence in your skills yet? Sometimes you truly need to “fake it until you make it” – focus on doing small things daily that put your day off on the right foot.

I read a book called Sales Badassery awhile ago that really focuses on confidence in salespeople, and how the image you portray and how you carry yourself will either help or hurt your sales career. People (clients) want to feel like they’ve got the best “team” working for them. It may be counter-intuitive, but acting as if you don’t need the buyer can actually work to your advantage in making the buyer/candidate feel that they want you MORE. In short, the person who is in charge “wins”.

I’m not telling you to treat your customer like crap – that will get you nowhere – but making it clear you are not bending over backwards to get that sale. I’d call it working from a place of abundance. The last thing you want to do in ANY sales position (or really, in any position) it to come off as desperate – it gets rid of all your leverage.

This is NOT the same as cockiness. Confidence draws people in, cockiness shuts people out. For every one deal you gain by coming off as a big shot, you’ll turn off five others. I’ll use one of my favorite quotes to close out this section: “Be humble, be hungry, and always be the hardest worker in the room.”

Well, there’s my shortened list of my top sales tips – what do you guys think? Anything that I forgot or to add on? Drop it in the comments, I love hearing from you!

xx

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