As a business owner, you’re in sales whether you think so or not. Every day you have to sell yourself — and your product or service — to grow your business.

Consider these 13 simple rules to create a superstar sales mindset.

1. Stay hungry. Every good salesperson is driven. They often have have a strong work ethic and a high energy level. They usually work harder and longer than their peers. Rain, hail or shine- they are still out there pounding the pavement, relentlessly making calls.

2. Never compromise your integrity. When customers trust salespeople, they buy from them.

3. Stay positive. Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. Success is 90 percent mental. You can alter your life by altering your mind.  You have to be a believer to be an achiever.

4. Be authoritative. Sales superstars know their products like the back of their hand. They also happen to know their competitors’ products and are prepared to point out the glaring and subtle differences.

5. Get prepared.It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to produce spectacular results.

6. Mind your reputation. You can’t buy a good reputation — you must earn it.

7. Be genuine. I have never known anyone to buy from someone they don’t like. Likability matters. Be genuine, Pleasant and Easy to talk with.

8. Put your best foot forward. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

9. Set goals. Winners set goals; losers make excuses. Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day. They must be measurable, identifiable, obtainable, specific — and put them in writing.

10. Become a customer-service fanatic. Take care of the customers you’ve got, and they’ll take care of you. You must have a fanatical attention to detail.

11. Remember to listen. You can’t learn anything with your mouth open.  If you talk at people instead of with them, they’re not buying in — they’re caving in.

12. Keep it all in perspective. It is impossible to underrate the importance of a sense of humor. When there are inevitable setbacks along the way, learn to laugh about them.

13. Develop a thirst for self-improvement. You are in school all your life. Sales superstars are constantly working to become better. They take courses, read books, listen to audiotapes and inhale everything they can to improve.

Bottom Line: A salesperson tells, a good salesperson explains… and a sales superstar demonstrates.

Edited post that was an Adapted excerpt from The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World by Harvey Mackay (Portfolio Penguin, Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2011).