The Three Top Secrets to Successful Selling

“Why survive when you can thrive?” asks Paula Pagano, one of San Francisco’s leading real estate brokers and author of Secrets of a Top Salesperson – How Emotions Make or Break the Sale. After years of pounding the pavement, dealing with challenging clients, and overcoming numerous obstacles, Paula is now ready to reveal her secrets for success. “I was not a natural born salesperson yet thirty years ago I became the #1 agent in my office during a recession when mortgage rates soared to 17%.” Even in a good economy only ten percent of new salespeople stay after two years, so Paula wondered, why she, overly analytical, impatient and often emotional, succeeded.

“My own journey of self-transformation began with leaving a dull medical research job in New York behind and moving to California. Laguna Beach, where I settled, could not be more different from the town I grew up in. Instead of snow, sand. Instead of business suits, swim suits. Instead of strict discipline, creative entrepreneurs. It was here that I learned basics of sales.”

Paula says, “The first secret to success is to identify your strengths as well as your weaknesses.” She suggests you review what you have done in your life so far and analyze what qualities have helped you along the way. When she first started out as a real estate agent in Laguna Beach, she barely made enough money to pay her bills, but Paula persisted. When she visited the cosmopolitan city of San Francisco, she knew Laguna and she were not a match. San Francisco’s striking Victorian architecture caught her eye immediately. The mysterious fog and the bursts of sunlight stole her heart. The truth is if you love what you do and where you live, it is easy to be successful Paula decided San Francisco was the city she wanted and so with more nerve than sense, she moved. For several years she was #1 in her office and remained a top real estate leader for three decades. The traits of clarity, courage, passion and tenacity can help you on your road to success as well.

The second part of this secret is to recognize your potential weaknesses or vices, as Paula calls them in her book, Secrets of a Top Salesperson – How Emotions Make or Break the Sale, so that you don’t sabotage your good efforts. Being Sicilian, Irish and American Indian, Paula recognizes she can get intense and sometimes says things to clients she regrets later. Like the time an attorney backed out of a 2.5 million dollar property. She told him exactly what she thought—that it would hurt her reputation. Her remark did not change his mind, but it did change their relationship. Mr. Woods never returned her calls after that. Paula’s advice is if you start to say something you may regret, stop the conversation before you get hurt or hurt someone else.

Another secret Paula learned while teaching for Client Connect, an empowerment sales training program she founded in 2003, is that most people give up too easily. Paula says, “it’s okay to fail and make mistakes—just don’t ever ever give up! A superstar salesperson can be rejected as much as seven times while their self-esteem remains intact. Most people can hear the word “No” only once or twice.”

The third and most important secret is to manage your emotions so they help your success—not hinder it. Paula suggests taking care of yourself first to maintain balance in your life. That way when problems come up, you are better able to handle them in a calm effective manner. Being balanced may sound like easy advice, but most people don’t do it. So here’s a simple reminder: Make sure you take at least one full day off a week. Exercise three to four days a week. Eat three well balanced meals a day, especially breakfast. And most important of all—no matter what is going on with you financially—invest in yourself by taking classes, reading an inspirational book, taking on a new hobby. The three top secrets of concentrating on your strengths, being persistent and managing your emotions will help you achieve more success in sales as well as the other facets of your life. You can learn more secrets to success by going to Paula Pagano’s websites: www.SecretsofaTopSalesperson.com and www.ClientConnect.us.