Brian Tracy, a savvy leadership and management consultant, professes the SWAN Formula.

When you’re pondering a new hire, try grading the person on these criteria:

S = Smart. Does your prospect demonstrate a reasonable amount of intelligence? Does he/she have the capacity to identify opportunities, process information, and communicate effectively?
W = Works hard. Does this potential recruit have a track record of long hours? Can you sense the level of commitment to seeing the job through to closure versus calling it a day at 5 p.m.?
A = Ambition. To be successful, a salesperson must be a self-starter. While you can (and should) provide ongoing motivation, you need an individual with the ambition it takes to work independently, without the steady nudge of a manager.
N = Nice. You don’t need someone who dishes out a plate of freshly baked cookies (not that this is a BAD thing!) but you should seek professionals who are friendly, moral, and ethical. Their actions reflect you and your business. Be sure you won’t be tainted by unseemly behaviors and actions!

And don’t be swayed by experience. This can simply translate to longevity rather than quality. Much like tenure does not ensure a quality teacher, experience is nothing without demonstrated results.

If you find someone who scores high on the SWAN meter, make an offer. This is a person who possesses the attitude of a successful salesperson. And remember this advice: Hire for attitude, not for skill. Skills can be learned. A bad attitude will create an impossible situation. Look for the person who can embrace new knowledge and skills; avoid the one who can’t/won’t.

You may hear what seems like countless objects to sales during your career.  However, if you categorize the objections you will find they normally fall into six basic categories.

In my real estate business, our objections were:

1. Price
2. Competition
3. Performance
4. Finance
5. Third Party Approval
6. Legal and Tax Benefits

After identifying all objections we received regularly, we developed iron-clad scripted answers to them.  Thus once we armed ourselves with airtight answers to these predictable objections, which used to block the sale, my company set new sales records.  The point is you cannot wait until you are involved in the presentation and then try to make up an answer.  You must proactively prepare in advance!

Your job as a professional is to discover for yourself, or with your sales team, the six common objections you hear consistently.  Once identified, it’s a simple process of internalizing and memorizing potent responses.  Then when the predictable objections appear, you answer easily ad effortlessly and automatically move to the close.