So you’re starting out in sales and you are looking for the right information that will lead you down the path to millions in commissions. Well, you’re in the right place. I’ve personally been there, personally done that.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, the foremost expert on experts, an expert is someone who has put in at least 10,000 hours on any given subject. I’m an expert at sales. I’ve been working in sales for 26 years. I’ve never had a salary or anything like that. I’ve got over 50,000 hours working in sales.

Most sales trainer types will try to tell you it’s about a script or tonality. They will tell you sales is about fancy one-liners and being a smooth talker. They will tell you that high ticket sales is the only way to make real money.

Sales gurus are just like the internet news outlets, 99% of what you read by them is bullshit they just made up on the fly.

I’ve read the books on psychology

I’ve been to the events on influence

I’ve attended the program on persuasion

While they weren’t in vain, they didn’t waste my time, and I learned a lot over the years, I realize I didn’t need any of those trainings to be good at sales. This ain’t the 1980’s that Wolf of Wall St shit doesn’t work the same.

The younger generation, age 35 and below, grew up with the internet. They are used to seeing around 30,000 sales pitches per day, their entire life. They know what a sales pitch smells like, looks like, and sounds like. From a country mile away.

The old-school guru, sales guy BS might work on older people, but the younger generation ain’t having that shit. Not from you, or some fancy-talker in a suit. They have no problem saying “no” they do it 30,000 times a day.

With that being said, there are only 3 things you need to close sales in today’s world of technology, automation, and the internet. This isn’t some bullshit I made up. This is 50,000 hours of experience and training summed up in a few powerful paragraphs.

First You Need Empathy: 

Look, this ain’t some word I just learned from Gary Vee. Matter of fact, I’m not even sure he really knows the meaning of the word. I’m gonna break it down for you and show you just how powerful empathy is.

Empathy is created when the person with the problem (prospect) knows for a fact that the person with the solution (salesperson) understands their “unique” situation. I put unique in parenthesis because they think they are unique but as a salesman, I realize most are the same.

In order to create that empathy, you need to listen. STFU and listen. Look, no one listens. They just talk. So when you listen to the prospect, you are already different. Let them talk. Ask them questions. Get them to elaborate. Make them feel like they are getting a 100-pound weight off their chest by telling you their story.

Your job is to listen. When they have told you the whole story, all the details, and know you listened, you only need one other thing to close the sale.

Second You Need Confidence:

Most people are insecure. This includes the people you sell to. They know they have a problem and they are looking for someone else to solve it. They need to feel good about making the buying decision. That decision is based on your confidence.

How do you build confidence?

It’s easy, confidence doesn’t have to be about you, or your self-worth. Although it helps, that’s not where sales confidence needs to come from. Sales confidence comes from product knowledge.

When you demonstrate confidence that you can fix the problem that you empathetically listened to them elaborate on, you can close the deal. When they know you understand and have a plan, they will deem you the man!

Learn your products, programs and get them ingrained inside your head. The more you know about what you sell, the better and more confidently you can sell it.

Third You Need Follow Up:

Prospects love to stall. They are scared to make decisions for fear of consequences. They don’t want to get ripped off, look stupid, or buy the wrong thing. This keeps them in search mode oftentimes more than solution mode.

Follow-up doesn’t have to be annoying and consists of you begging for business. Instead, follow-up should be value-added. Sending videos, instructions, information, entertainment, and anything else just to stay top of mind in your prospects.

We have to make about 50,000 decisions per day. Your job is to make your product one of those 50,000 for someone every day. The way to do that is to stay top of mind.

You may need to follow up in a value-added way with a prospect for years. Unless they tell you to fuck off and never contact them again, keep contact with them regularly.

I break follow up into three simple categories.

Red Hot – I follow up daily

Warm Lead – I follow up weekly

Cold lead – I follow up monthly

I just gave you 50,000 hours of experience and sales game in less than a 10-minute read. If you’ll focus on mastering these 3 sales skills, you will haunt the top of the leaderboard for life. Everything I taught you was easy, but doing it day in and day out is something only the top 5% really do.

You got a plan and a path now, stick to it, get on it and make it happen.