What Makes a Good Salesperson?

 

I was asked this exact question by a high-profile CEO last week, and it made me smile. Having been one in my younger days and now working with sales directors for over twenty years it is still a great question. From hiring the right people at the start, to supporting them throughout their role as it evolves, what makes a good salesperson really has not changed. Let me explain why. 

 

Recruiting Good Salespeople

Recruiting the right people is still a hugely challenging issue. What is a good fit not just to the role but to the business strategy and the culture of the business? This simple question is really a minefield for any director recruiting a salesperson.  What is a good fit, depends upon what you are looking for? What is a good fit? Is that someone who comes across well at interview or a person with an excellent track record?  In the 1980’s the lone wolf salesperson was the ideal role model, the high energy go getter, who won at any cost. That changed to the team player who positively responded to direction and management and was a predictable and reliably consistent.    

The fact that sales candidates have personality characteristics and skills that are difficult to evaluate adds a level of complexity which makes it hard to identify the ideal candidate. Companies want someone who can sell, but they are assessed either on who they know within the market or the last company they worked for. Either of these is not a good basis for who is going to be the right person for this company and this role.

Many are highly skilled at making a great first impression, but getting the right salesperson requires attitude skills which are not about first impressions. Hopefully every salesperson can make a great first impression, but can they build trust and credibility over the longer with clients? How do you assess that within an hour’s assessment? 

 

Evaluating potential salespeople is challenging  

Too often recruiting salespeople becomes a continual process as the revolving door as the wrong people enter and leave on a regular basis.  One recent report identified that 1 is 3 salespeople does not last a year in the role. This leaves companies with a continual open door for new salespeople. Carrying deadwood and with open vacancies in place becomes the normal situation in many companies.  An eternally evolving team which leaders cannot rely upon and develop.  

The solutions I most often seen tried range from trying different recruitment companies, to swinging the personality selection criteria by 180 degrees from the previous failed salesperson. While both seem attractive ways to overcome a previous failure, neither get the root cause of the issues a sales director must resolve. 

The key issues always start by understanding the strategy you are trying to deploy. Where do we want to be in five years’ time, is always a good place begin? Stop trying to look for a quick fix. Recruitment is a slow and expensive business, made more so by getting it wrong. Not only missed opportunities in sales but in morale and credibility with customers and other stakeholders. 

  

Sales Start with Sales Strategy 

To resolve these key issues, I always recommend identifying the importance of the long-term goal over the quick fix in finding the right salespeople. The right strategy defines the nature of the sales process, market, customer profile, and above all the key traits that they are looking for. Who do you want to have as customers in 5 years’ time is the first question I always ask? That should define the type of relationship you will need to achieve those goals. 

Secondly what are the key traits of existing good salespeople. What does good look like inside the team and company? Identifying that persona as the optimum salesperson profile, from background to adaptiveness and above all the right attitude.  Attitude is a major challenge is finding the right salespeople. It is difficult to tease out in an interview and even harder using crude sales personality tests. Like all tests some people are good at them and with frequency can pass them without revealing their true personality traits.  

For a salesperson in any sales role, B2B or B2C to succeed they must have the right environment. That is one where they have the support, structure and systems in place to support them succeed. 

 

 

Good Salespeople have the right Attitude.

Ask 5 sales directors what are the most important skills criteria that a salesperson needs to have, and you will get a shopping list a mile long. From problem solving to team player through to advanced role specific skills in negotiation and critical thinking soft skills. They, and many other role specific skills are all genuine skills, but none are as important as attitude. 

Attitude Is an approach that all good salespeople always seem to demonstrate. It is a consistent metric of success in selling roles.  But it I hard to pull out in an interview.  Skills you can train but attitude is hard wired into people’s DNA. Attitude is how people approach and undertake their role. For example, a good attitude enables people to self-start in the morning, bounce-back from a major set-back and remember to do the hard groundwork rather than just chasing the quick wins.

A good attitude is seen not in someone being perfect on day 1, but someone who will learn, adapt to become a team player within the culture of that business today and will develop themselves to be ready for the next stage of the business.  A good attitude is someone who learns from others and mistakes. They bounce back from setbacks rather than complain.  Attitude is the single most important factor in a successful salesperson. It comes across in actions and outcomes, someone seen as possessing grit in selling.

 

 

Attitude is Everything in Sales

What does a great attitude bring in sales behaviours. A person with a positive attitude is that they learn from the high achievers. They learn the products and the sales process and often challenge existing assumptions. They ask the annoying questions to sales managers like why do we do it like that?  Good salespeople quickly learn enough to be able to represent the brand, but they do not hide behind needing to know everything before they get out here. They are not perfectionists.

Good salespeople recognise that their real value is spend in-front of customers. They do the grunt work. Getting out and knocking on doors. The groundwork of any good salesperson is the unseen and unvalued work of learning the territory, meeting with existing and target customers. They have a plan, and they work the plan every day.  

Positive attitude is not just about having a sale and celebrating it. It is about continually building a multileveled pipeline of real opportunities. With a positive sales attitude good salespeople are always forward looking and don’t sit back on their laurels. The old saying you are only as good as your next sale, is their mantra. 

 

Growth Mindset

With the right attitude a company has salespeople who do not need to be micromanaged, or having their hands held through every sale. They have and own their plan ad they live their plan every day.   They focus on their goals and every step to get there they undertake builds towards their goals. They don’t short-circuit the process they know and trust.

A growth mindset is also one that stretches themselves to go the extra mile. Always looking for new possibilities and feeding back new ideas and product / service suggestions. A growth mindset is one that starts with an approach that says why not that customer, and how do I get into that target customer? Rather than the approach that says, I’m doing alright, I’m not at the bottom, I won’t win that customer.  A growth mindset, I can grow, is a great attitude compared to the fixed mindset, which limits the salespersons horizon.

 

Build the Customer Base

Great salespeople focus on their target customers. Many salespeople spend time in the office, being seen. Others spend too much time on email or their phone. The best salespeople spend their time in-front of customers. The prioritise getting in-front of existing and target customers. Focusing on time in-front of customer, with well worked out journey and engagement planning is the solid foundation of any successful salesperson growth mindset. 

They spend time building trust and understanding of the customers business. Relationship building with customers is the most valuable way to open value-added business with a customer. From pre-research to adding value to the customer which develops a win/win/win relationship with the customer, great salespeople focus on building their customer base’s width and depth.   

Build Lifetime Customers 

Great salespeople build customers who value their input into their business. They move from the transactional, need based relationship to one of mutual respect and long-term partnership.  They get to know the business, its people and its culture.

 

So, what makes a great salesperson?

Great salespeople are not great on their own, it takes a company culture that values people for the long-term and leadership that has a clear strategy to succeed. It takes clear achievable goals with the support resources in place to enable a salesperson that allows a salesperson to operate with freedom and trust. 

A great salesperson is one who understands that no matter the pressures, that there are no shortcuts to success. An average person can make a sale, but a good salesperson builds a lifetime customer. Not in one visit wonder but a trusted partner.

Like to learn more about developing the right sales culture then contact me.