The One Word That Will Make You an Amazing Salesperson (Hint: It Rhymes With Rabbit)

"Make good habits, and they will make you." -- Parks Cousins

Show me someone -- anyone -- who's successful in any field, and I'll show you someone who's mastered habits.

Not just habits -- good habits.

For salespeople, those habits are not necessarily a huge, hairy secret, and I'll get to those in a minute. For now I want you to think about your habits in your day-to-day activities.

Let's start with brushing your teeth. Think about how easy that is. This morning, for instance -- did you find yourself thinking about how to brush your teeth? Did you have to concentrate? Focus? Of, course not. Brushing your teeth is a habit. You can even multitask while you're doing it - you can listen to music, checkout your good looks in the mirror, even dance a little if you're extra happy. Same for driving to work. Again, you can enjoy music, think about your day ahead, on and on.

Now, let's get into to why you're reading this in the first place: to become an amazing salesperson. What actions do you need to make habits to become that amazing salesperson? And equally important, how do you make those activities actual habits so that they're second nature?

Let's go with the second question first. In his book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business," Charles Duhigg shares the reason why you should fashion your sales life around habits: it gives you more brain power (And who among us couldn't use a little more of that every day?). Duhigg says habit-making behaviors and decisions occur in two different parts of the brain. And when a behavior becomes a habit, the decision-making part of your brain works less, which means you have more brain power to devote elsewhere.

He adds that every habit starts with a "habit loop" a three-part process:

1. The cue or trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode.

2. The routine, the behavior itself.

3. The reward, something that your brain likes that helps it remember the habit loop in the future.

I encourage you to pick up his book to create good habits in your personal and professional life.

And now the first question: What actions do you need to make habits to become that amazing salesperson? What are the habits of those folks who take home all the awards, who get whispered about with reverence at conferences, who have bank accounts bigger than yours?

Like I mentioned earlier, they're not huge secrets -- that's why I've focused on making them habits -- that's the real secret sauce. Just remember the letters: NPR.

Numbers -- When all is said and done, sales is a numbers game. One hour of prospecting a day, period. Then 25 follow up e-mails a day. Then a minimum of 10 texts a day. And five handwritten notes a day. Numbers work with push-ups, right? Do more, get more results. Same with sales. Get your numbers in daily.

Perseverance -- Nearly half of all salespeople give up after one follow-up and upwards of 80 percent of all sales require five follow-up calls. Plus, 63% of people requesting information on your company today will not purchase for at least three months -- and 20% will take more than 12 months to buy, according to Marketing Donut.

Responsiveness -- Leads die after 15 minutes. Research shows that up to half of sales go to the vendor who responds first. And if you follow up with web leads within 5 minutes, you're 9 times more likely to convert them, according to InsideSales.com.

Develop new habits and make your 2017 a sales year to remember.