Today, founder of Ryze Code, Joe Ryder, shares three sales tips that he learned as a rookie salesperson 20 years ago, that still hold true today.

“It was 1995. The Backstreet Boys were playing on the radio, my girlfriend at the time was obsessed with the ‘new’ movie Clueless, and I was the new kid on the block at Village Print & Media.

As a rookie salesperson, the senior salespeople offered no advice to me whatsoever for, at least, the first six months of my career. The top salesperson wouldn’t say hello to me in the morning, or even look at me. In meetings, all of the senior salespeople were combative and egotistical. The office environment was, overall, poor.

Somewhere around the ninth month that I had been with the company, my mentor, a great salesperson named Kenny Scheck, pulled me aside and finally started telling me what’s what about sales. It was on this day that I stopped failing and was finally able to pave my own path that would lead me to become a successful salesperson. Three of the most important, commonsensical sales tips he gave me in 1995 that still hold true today are as follows:

  • Every answer other than yes, is simply no.
  • When it comes to a commissional salesperson, there are no rules.
  • The smartest person in the room is the person who bills the most money.

Now, what exactly do these tips mean? The lessons I took away from Kenny’s words, collectively, were:

  • If you want to be successful, you need to learn to work for yourself.
  •  Know how much is too much, and when you should and should not have a voice.
  •  No matter what, drive revenue. This is the only way to guarantee that you will keep your job, and be successful.

One of the best aspects of my job, currently, is guiding young salespeople and sharing advice. The time you spend with your sales team, offering advice as a manager or as a director, will be invaluable to both of your careers.”

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