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Those that are very successful often engage in specific habits that help and encourage this success. There are 5 specific habits that are important and should be practiced by all salespeople that want to be highly successful.

First, time management is essential. Salespeople that cannot manage their time do not have many clients, and they have a difficult time keeping the clients that they do have. This is largely because they are late on deadlines, forget appointments, and have other difficulties that are problematic. In order to have one of the 5 habits of highly successful salespeople, they must be more time-conscious and organized. A good way to do this is to effectively use assistants and processes to determine which activities you should be doing and which you should not be doing. Top salespeople do revenue generating activities, while struggling salespeople generally do not.

Second, another of the 5 habits of highly successful salespeople is the ability to multi-task. While this can be considered part of time management by some people, others do not see it that way. Instead, they see it as a vital and separate category when considering what habits salespeople need to be highly successful. Salespeople that can multi-task are very good at planning their day, and they know what they must accomplish. They are able to work on multiple projects and consistently finish on or before their deadlines. With most top salespeople, they do not let the events of the day dictate what they do that day. Top salepeople know that if they don't value their time, nobody else will, and that's why they protect it and guard it. Nobody can see them without an appointment and that keeps them from being too reactive to be proactive.

Third, highly successful salespeople must be personable and friendly. It is one of the 5 important habits that they should have. When people are unfriendly, they make others uncomfortable. Customers do not like to be made to feel as though they are inconveniencing a salesperson by asking questions or requesting information. When highly successful salespeople talk to potential customers, they talk to them as friends. While it's not necessary that you actually are friends with a customer, you want to create that bond that is past just business partners.

Fourth, highly successful salespeople understand that one of the most important of the 5 habits is to present a professional appearance. Blue jeans that are faded, wrinkled shirts, and unkempt hair will not inspire confidence in a potential customer. Instead, successful salespeople should dress appropriately, take care of the way they look, and make an effort to be well-groomed, clean, and hygienic.

Fifth, it is important to smile. This sounds trite and trivial, but it is actually very important. Probably the most important of the 5 habits of highly successful salespeople is to remember to smile and appear happy. Any problems a salesperson is having are not the customers' problems, and should be kept out of the conversation. Indicating that you are happy and smiling makes others around you feel better as well.