4 ways to become the best sales version of you

No one can stop you from becoming the best you. Except you.

In your sales career, there will be no shortage of people with good intentions telling you what things you need to do to become better. And how you need to do them.

But, here’s the thing. None of those people are you.

They don’t experience and navigate the world the way you do.

They don’t share your personality.

They don’t interact with other humans the way you do.

So, don’t compare yourself to anyone who isn’t you.

Because the responsibility is yours to learn how to build on your unique strengths, skills, curiosity, empathy and perspective to become the best sales version of you.

You can’t count on your employer to hand you this knowledge on a silver platter. Hopefully you can count on yourself to pick up the slack. Here's how to do that:

1. Constantly put yourself in the position to learn and experiment.

Prioritize acquiring new knowledge, that you can combine with your sales experience, to enable yourself to take the right steps at the right time to help your buyers make the right purchase decision.

For instance, what book are you reading that contains strategies you can use in your selling right now? It doesn’t have to be a sales book. It could be a psychology or self-help book. It could be a book on decision-making.

2. What you need to learn will not be the same as it is for other sellers.

The specific set of things I’ve needed to learn to achieve success in my career have been unique to me. This is why a cookie cutter approach to developing the skills and potential of sellers will usually fail the seller.

You may have an idea about what you need to learn to get better. But, why guess? Do an informal 360 review and have calls with customers, managers and peers to gather feedback about where you could improve.

3. How you learn will not be the same as it is for other sellers.

Perhaps you learn primarily from your manager. Maybe it’s from training. Or from listening to recordings of your calls and the call of your peers. Or perhaps you’ve learn from listening to a podcast (I have one in mind you should listen to…)

In my case, I’ve probably learned more about selling from listening to my customers than all other sources combined. (You just have to ask and they’ll tell you.)

4. Learning requires a plan.

Continuous learning is a discipline. You should always have a personal development plan mapped out for each year. What do you need to learn in 2024 that will help you achieve your career and personal goals?

Commit your plan to writing. Break it down by month and week to guide what and how are you learning everyday to help you improve.

I’ve always been inspired by these words from the legendary Zig Ziglar:

“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”

No one can stop you. Except you.