Before we get started,

Let me tell you that selling is both an art and a science.

Really, it is. And like art, how you go about selling is intensely personal. There are so many different ways to approach it – and so many ways to be successful at it – that I could go on for hours and hours without touching the tip of the iceberg.

But this is a blog post, and we don’t have all day. (But if you do have all day to talk about sales, just let me know. I’d LOVE to talk to you about sales for a whole day. Honestly…I’d be absolutely giddy!)

But since this is a quick seminar of sorts – and a quiz that will help you identify your selling style – I’ll make it short and sweet.

The first thing to know is that everyone has a unique selling style. I’m going to talk about five general sales styles.

They’re categories of sorts, but you’ll probably see parts of yourself in several of them.

Most people, in fact, combine sales styles.

They take bits and pieces from one style or another, and the most successful salespeople tailor their approaches – their styles – to the person they’re pitching.

After a while, this all becomes second nature and you don’t even have to think about it.

You start to pull out the tools that work best with a certain type of prospect without a lot of analysis. Like brushing your teeth, it becomes a habit.

First, we need to know what your natural bent is. By taking this quiz, you can see the dominant style you prefer, and find out what other styles sometimes have an influence on how you conduct business.