Can great sales people be made?

Nov. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- In this present climate an organisation can succeed or fail depending on if they employ great salespeople or salespeople who simply do not produce.

Of course, every organisation is looking for the golden players, the salespeople who possess each and every characteristic that has been deemed crucial for stellar sales performance. And as such, researchers and consultants by the droves design and conduct studies that seek to identify the true key components of a successful salesperson. Armchair theorists write papers and publish articles on sales success, often drawing on years of experience working with sales teams and observing certain types of individuals move up the ranks. Successful salespeople themselves are abundant and, using their own experiences and self-perceptions, they often attempt to put on paper the characteristics that have enabled them to find success in a sales career.

A blue chip company's top performing salesperson, with over 40 years of experience, concluded that there are seven characteristics of great salespeople.

• Professionalism & Pride

• Personality

• Preparation

• Presentation

• Process Driven

• Persistence

Business Week published an article by Jack and Suzy Welch that identified the four traits of great salespeople

• Enormous empathy

• A powerful mixture of drive, courage, and self-confidence

• Trustworthiness

• A hate for the postman model (they don't like a set routine)

Jeff Gitomer, an expert on selling and customer service, stated that there are 12.5 traits that would make someone a " 'hire-able' and 'succeed-able' salesperson"

• Smart

• Self-starting

• Great attitude

• Excellent communication skills

• Physically and mentally fit

• Computer literate

• Focused and goal driven

• Dedicated to succeeding

• Past history of success

• Looking for a career, not a job

• More interested in personal success and personal development than money

• A constant student: willing to learn and adapt

• Taking joy in serving others (12.5)

Studies and articles abound on the key characteristics of a successful salesperson. Yet it seems that study after study and article after article can't agree on the same key components.

So the question becomes - which list is correct? Which list truly defines the type of individual who will ultimately bring the organization its fiscal glory? And is the individual born that way - or can you create a golden player?

At first glance, it seems that the lists share very few characteristics. A closer examination reveals that, in fact, most of the characteristics fall into two main categories: What a salesperson needs to do to develop himself, and what he needs to do for others.

Not surprisingly (this is sales, after all), the majority of the top characteristics of salespeople are about how well they focus on the needs of others - their customers.

The first list includes Personality and Presentation. Who is personality and presentation important to? The customer. The salesperson with a pleasing disposition who creates dynamic interactions will give the customer a more pleasant sales experience. Telling the customer about the product or service in a manner that she is most receptive to makes the customer more interested in the buy. Personality, Preparation, and Professionalism focus on how a salesperson needs to adjust his behaviors to meet the needs of others.

Jack and Suzy Welch assert that a great salesperson is empathetic and trustworthy. The customer is the recipient of empathy and is grateful to finally feel understood. The customer is the person who must place trust in the salesperson.

The true key to sales? Know Others. Do Something for Others. Only when the salesperson understands his customer will she able to behave in a manner that is most acceptable to the customer, resulting in the successful sale.

The best way to Know Others is to have sales training in the behaviors of others. When the salesperson can read the behaviors of his customers, he will be able to adjust his own behaviors to meet the needs of his customers.

For more on sales training visit http://www.salestrainingintl.com/sales-training-courses

For more on management training go to http://www.salestrainingintl.com/management-training

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Sales Training International offer bespoke in house training courses that cover management training, sales training and telesales training