Todd Brouillette is a successful executive sales professional. He works with Oracle as an Enterprise Account Manager in the data storage division.

1. -Todd Brouillette

2. Sales professionals are always working on improving their closing
numbers, as well as to continually drive both additional revenue and
company profitability. The employer of any given sales professional
may be pressuring them to improve on revenue growth on a constant
basis. Improving sales numbers takes time, and it often involves
winning each customer over on an individual basis. The best and
most productive sales professionals tend to work on the strength of
the business relationships they develop with others.

3. A successful account executive is a
trusted advisor. The products an account
executive sells are, of course, important,
but unless you have a one-of-a-kind
product, there may be countless other
sales professionals offering the same
products, and using the same selling
points, as you. How then do you convince
customers to buy products or services
from you and not your competitors?
Simple. By focusing on the ‘one customer
at a time’ approach.

4. Each customer interaction should leave a positive
impression on the customer. Even if you aren’t
able to get the customer to sign on the dotted
line, you have to at least work on ingratiating
yourself to the customer, as well as to establish
their trust with both you and the products or
services you’re offering. Relationships tend to be
the key to repeat business; to selling products to
a loyal client base for many years to come.

5. The sales professional should work to build these relationships on the
elements of trust and understanding. When you first meet a new potential
client, take time to listen to their pain points, and work on understanding
what they need from both you and your company. This basic understanding
helps to build trust, and a rapport, between yourself and the customer,
something you can build on, and that is crucial to selling products and
services for years to come.