21 Oct Sales Learnings from the Humble Ant

What can Organizations learn from Ants to make their Hunters (Sales) effective?

Sales managers acknowledge that effective sales representatives have unique working traits that make them successful on a consistent basis. These traits become more important when it comes to making a winning sales pitch, irrespective of the industry or audience in question. Effective sales people also know how to learn every day and apply their learning when they interact with their audience. In this context, organizations can learn from ants to help hone the skills of their sales rep by inculcating in them the sense of perseverance and all the virtues of ants. The qualities of ants such as lively behaviour, agility, persistence, perseverance, diligence, industry and punctuality can help sales rep to make commitments with customers, have confidence in themselves and their brand, follow up with prospects from time to time and most importantly-never give up.

Doing what you prescribe and saying exactly what you want to do are personality characteristics that define the best sales persons. A savvy sales rep knows that his or her reputation is the single thing that would help him to leverage the network he makes with his sales. Sales professionals today face a lot of obstacles while doing their day to day sales call. Be it filling your pipeline, managing the sales teams, or closing the pitch – to achieve and sustain high levels of performance, sales people need to make sure that they are not intimidated by their work, value teamwork, cherish structure and become organized just like the ants.

Here is a list of seven attributes of ants that sales representatives can learn from ants:

Build rapport with your prospects: Before you pitch your product or service to your prospect, you have to build the rapport with him. Not considering anything else, people like to buy from people they like. Be likable and focus on building your camaraderie and soon your sales conversations will become better.

Aspire for more and achieve your potential: If you don’t make the prospect feel like you are solving his problem, you won’t make the sale. You might work on everything just perfect, but if the prospect doesn’t see the value of your solution and doesn’t find worth the money he is putting in, you will never be able to impress him. So be solution oriented right from the start and make your impact.

Be Solution Oriented: If you don’t make the prospect feel like you are solving his problem, you won’t make the sale. You might work on everything just perfect, but if the prospect doesn’t see the value of your solution and doesn’t find worth the money he is putting in, you will never be able to impress him. So be solution oriented right from the start and make your impact.

Be Organized and Well Prepared: Once you are aware of the the prospect’s objectives and goals, you must point out to them how your solution will help in an organized manner. How will it be better? In your sales pitch, help them visualize the end result and build the buzz around it. Besides, make sure that you have rehearsed your sales pitch well before presenting it to your prospect.

Balance advocacy and inquiry: Ants are by nature curious creatures and they know how to innovate while doing their work. As a sales rep you must follow the same philosophy and be curious about what exactly what your prospect wants. You must advocate your ideas and at the same time be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of your client. Be curious and work on new ideas and rest assured you are sure to find success at the end of the day.

Build on the feeling of trust: Trust is the foundation of sales success which is why you must invest in it. A buyer will not open up and reveal his needs if he doesn’t trust you. A buyer will be interested in your solution unless he feels you are trust worthy. Ants have a great team work because they are co-operative and foster the feeling of trust among them so you must learn from them and inculcate the idea.

Plan to succeed: Be prepared for success by preceding your sales pitch with a plan. Do your homework and ready yourself with what you want to get out of the discussion. If you go into each conversation with great material and preparation to succeed, there is a greater chance of you succeeding in the call.

If you follow these seven things in your sales conversations and help to develop them over time, it would definitely help you become a better sales person. Moreover, if organizations could prep up their sales professionals with a well-defined and relevant training then it would be like cherry on the cake.

CREATING VALUES offers customized trainings for your Sales function suited for your individual needs. Connect with us today to know how we can make your Sales Function more effective.