There is one essential thing that must exist between Seller and Buyer in order for a sale to happen.

Think about the last big purchase you made; your home, your Car, a Vacation – maybe a piece of jewelry? Guaranteed, for you to have made the purchase you did, one thing had to have been present. Was it Respect?… Was it Trust? Was it features and benefits? Well, of course, without those things, this essential element would have been in much shorter supply.

No, to begin any new business relationship the one thing that must have existed and changed hands at some point was ENTHUSIASM. Proactive sales is about a TRANSFER of ENTHUSIASM. The selling professional who can transfer the most enthusiasm about the product, about the process, about the overall purchase and experience… will win the day.

If you can’t provide your prospect with enough reason to become at least a little bit enthusiastic about what you are proposing… you are leaving them wide open for someone to come along with an enthusiastic spin that will leave you out in the cold. Sales Guru and icon Zig Ziglar said: “For every sale you miss because you are too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you are not enthusiastic enough.”

You don’t have to sell Ferrari’s to transfer enthusiasm. Selling professionals are genuinely enthusiastic about – not only the products and services they represent – but about all that they bring to bear in representing them. Trust. Respect. Confidence. Knowledge. Understanding – plus any number of other unique attributes, expertise and ability – all come together to create and sustain the genuine enthusiasm for what they do.

Top selling professionals are confident in – and enthusiastic about – their ability to deliver great solutions. Most importantly, they are masters at transferring and sharing ownership of that enthusiasm with their customers and prospects.

Nowhere is this more important than in the Business-to-Business business. In B2B sales, knowing how to transfer an abundance of enthusiasm can be essential to sales success. With more than 5 people involved in the average B2B buying decision, whatever enthusiasm a salesperson is able to muster and transfer, has to be enough to carry on and touch at least 4 more people. Top B2B sales performers know how to use Enthusiasm to create “Champions” who continue to transfer the enthusiasm on to their colleagues and decision-makers, when the sales person is not there to speak for themselves.

INFUSIASM

(in-fuze-ee-az-uhm)

The practice of infusing enthusiasm into sales staff

for the eventual transfer to prospects and customers.

Urban Dictionary

So where does Enthusiasm come from? Is it automatic? Like it comes as a bonus with the “Gift of Gab?”

Across the world, sales training investment is on the rise. In North America alone, companies spend over 6 billion dollars a year on sales training and coaching programs. Providing their Sales force with the skills and abilities required to consistently achieve their targets, is a priority for more and more corporations as they struggle to maintain and grow revenues in today’s economy.

While training is essential to a sales person’s performance and sustainable success, training will not create enthusiasm. Almost everyone who comes into sales starts off with an abundance of it – but few see it last – without a little help. Training will most certainly help to foster Enthusiasm – and it will certainly enhance it where it already exists – but it won’t fabricate it.

There are virtually limitless ways for sales professionals to create and transfer Enthusiasm but, in order for sales people to have enthusiasm, it must be first be consciously and proactively infused into them – by company and sales management – right from Day One.

To start infusing enthusiasm into a new sales person, it is essential that sales management has an effective plan for doing so. The art of Infusiasm is about understanding the importance of things like proper onboarding and training, clear understanding of compensation, company culture, teamwork, OPPORTUNITIES! and countless other things.   Most importantly, company leadership must infuse a belief in something to be enthusiastic about!

Leading companies today like Apple, Google and Shopify, and countless others, are committed to creating a strong and positive company culture. They build genuine employee enthusiasm for being a part of the organization… starting on Day One.

Now remember, this is Sales – even a naturally-enthusiastic person, will face real, everyday drains on that level of enthusiasm. Handling rejection, dealing with challenging customers, difficult colleagues or internal company politics are just a few of the everyday things that can diminish the average salesperson’s level of enthusiasm.

Winning companies understand that they have to be proactive in creating, filling and regularly topping-up, the essential reservoir of Enthusiasm from which their salespeople will draw – exuding and transferring that enthusiasm on to clients and prospects.   Far more than the carrot of big commissions, company culture can play the biggest role in creating, sustaining and infusing the enthusiasm that the sales force will use every day in turning suspects into prospects, prospects into customers and customers into long-lasting patrons.