Beginners luck can be a valuable thing in sales. Of course, it’s not luck at all, just a healthy dose of ignorance that has an advantageous aspect. When someone first starts out in sales they don’t know all the things that aren’t to be or can’t be done. They ask questions because they don’t know the answers, they ask for business because they haven’t learned to fear rejection, they question indecisiveness because they don’t know it’s a stall tactic, and the list goes on. Amateur salespeople typically have early success because they don’t know any better. They only know that they are supposed to sell and plow toward that goal. Unfortunately, this naiveté is often lost after initial success and development into a “seasoned salesperson”. The things they never thought about begin to bog them down and prevent them from doing what they were previously capable of doing.

A salesperson moving beyond the amateur stage typically is a victim of his or her own knowledge or success. They begin to learn all there is to know about their product or service, so they stop asking so many questions and get right into what the prospect needs to hear. They recognize a stall or objection and “handle” them rather than trying to understand what the prospect is telling them. They don’t ask for business because that’s “not how it’s done” in the industry. The list goes on but what they have educated themselves in is how to be less successful. These salespeople are the most self-assured with the least results. They know they know it all, the prospect’s just aren’t getting how smart they are and thus aren’t buying.

Truly professional salespeople are the ones that move beyond the seasoned phase. Though they have plenty of experience they re-adopt the successful things they did as an amateur. They know everything about their product or service but ask questions of the prospect because they know it will help them refine what pieces of their offering is important. They recognize a stall or objection but ask for clarification because they know there is probably a real world issue behind the vague answer. They ask for business because they have discussed a prospect’s needs enough and decided their product or service is a good solution. They know “the because” behind all their behaviors and why they are effective. The professional does what they did as an amateur, only on purpose.

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