10 Lifehacks Every Salesperson Should Know

Working in sales is a special type of brutal. It's the kind of brutality that has people insulting you to your face, working against you while you're trying to make ends meet, and also where you find yourself being forced to keep a smile on your face for no apparent reason.

Saying that life as a salesperson is rough is an understatement, and if you've been in sales, then you already know how true that is. Salespeople can use all the help they can get.

If you are new to sales, recruiting a new salesperson, or just feeling like the wind is getting taken out of your sales, then you need some tips and tricks. Here are some lifehacks every salesperson should know, and how they can help you score better sales.

It seems so simple, right? It's something that's often said in sales classes, or when you first join a new company as a sales rep. If you thought that they were just bluffing about the power of believing in your product, you were dead wrong.

Knowing and believing in your product gives you a natural confidence that clients see as authority. It also prevents body language that feels forced, which makes it one of the lifehacks every salesperson should know.

Follow up, follow up, follow up.

A huge amount of sales leads are missed because novice salespeople refuse to follow up on the calls that go over well. Most people out there are not going to be one-call closes, which means that you need to actually reach out to clients to get that sale.

In many cases, a simple followup email or call is enough to remind people to buy the product you're selling. And yes, if that's your lead, that means you will get the commission.

Salespeople need special qualities to succeed, and one of those qualities is tenacity.

Get better with appointment setting and tasks.

It's really, really easy to make a sales lead grow cold by just putting it off while you check off more pressing matters on your to-do list. The easiest way to ensure that your leads don't go cold and that you sell the goods you need to is by setting deadlines for each task.

Realize that their rejection of the product isn't necessarily a rejection of you.

The most common phrase salespeople will hear is "no" or "not interested." After a while, it's only human to feel like you might be doing something wrong, or that you're not enough.

It hurts even more when you see another salesperson close the deal that you didn't make. So, what gives? Why isn't anything working? Is it you?

Believe it or not, most of the time it's not. It's often just a different timing, a disinterest in the product, or just the fact that they might find the person who sold it to them capable of explaining things better.

One of the biggest truths that people will learn when they're starting out in sales is that there are definitely some people who are more willing to buy things than others. That's why one of the best lifehacks every salesperson should know deals with picking customers.

Take a good look at your product and ask yourself who would be most likely to buy it. Would you try to sell trendy sneakers to a 60-year-old person? Probably not, but you would definitely go to a 20-year-old kid to sell it.

Carefully screen your prospects, and you will have far better results.

Come up with a method that works.

If you want to be one of the best salespeople on your team, you need to start approaching sales like a science. Take a look at your process. What openers work best? Do you work best when you stick to a script? What followups tend to work best?

The more you pull apart each method, the more you will be able to turn your sales skill into a process. Make a point of making it measurable, and you'll be able to see your numbers go up.

Every kind of industry will have a different "ideal method" to getting good sales prospects. For B2B sales, this often means that you will need to go to trade shows. For sales in the wedding industry, commercials, trade shows, and referrals are often top leaders. For people who sell warranties, cold calls are best. You get the drift.

Take a look at where your leads come from, and where the most successful ones can be found. Then, invest in those more heavily while lightening up sources from leads that don't work. If none of your leads work, make a point of trying a different tactic to discover people.

"Do you want fries with that?"

Did you ever notice that people tend to forget how much they love eating french fries until they have a salesperson ask them if they want fries with their meal? It's actually one of the best sales tactics people use to get you to buy more.

Once you have a sale, casually ask if they want to get any kind of accessories alongside them. Chances are that they will add at least one or two to their shopping bag.

Realize when you need to take a break.

It's often said that one of the best lifehacks every salesperson should know can be found in a solid work ethic. This is true, but there's also a point where you actually need to take a breather too.

Sales can and will burn you out if you let it. Doing all those important tasks, calling up people, meeting with newbies, and actually putting through paperwork takes a lot of time. With pressure involved, it also can throw off your mind's ability to focus.

A good work-life balance will do a lot for your state of mind, your ability to connect with people, and your ability to close sales. Get your eight hours of sleep a day. Take a breather if you have a difficult client. Just balance things out!

A great salesperson also knows when it's best not to make a sale.

Meeting quota is great, yes, but it's not everything. Being treated like a human being matters too, and many people forget that when they go into sales.

Sometimes, a sale is just not worth the hassle you get from the client. One of the greatest lifehacks every salesperson should know deals with your respect levels.

A person who doesn't respect you and regularly insults you is not someone you should make a deal with. Dealing with them will easily ruin your day, which in turn, can wreck your mood and your ability to make sales later on. Just tell them off and ask them to leave; you'll thank yourself later.