Key traits of the best salespeople – a guide to hiring the best salespeople

I spent 16 years in tech sales, with most of that time as head of sales at Salesforce and other tech companies. I love observing the best sales professionals in the tech industry, and beyond that I’ve found that the best people share some of the same patterns, habits, and traits.

I have grouped them into five main categories and have begun to apply them to my work – practicing, honing, teaching them. As a result, my teams have consistently done work at the top or near the top of the rankings year after year. Here is what I have observed:

1. The best salespeople own everything

I once gave a speech to new salespeople, early in my career, titled “Your Error Speech.” It’s raw but full of confidence (marking leadership in your twenties) but the point is simple: Your success depends on you.

The sales profession exists in an environment of many talents. Statistically, it’s no coincidence that the same person tops the charts year after year. Some people may think it’s because some people get it easier, or are given this, or start that. We all have a starting point. Regardless, the most significant difference between longtime top sellers and others is attitude.

Elite salespeople approach their goals with a total ownership mindset. Whatever happens to them, whether it’s what they do or not, is under their control. It may not be their fault, but their responsibility.

In research, psychologists call this the point of intrinsic control. It’s a strange way of saying that you think the power is within you instead of outside. And you know what they found? Having an intrinsic control point correlates with job success, higher income, and better health.

This is the hardest point to improve on in my career because it seems to be rooted deep in a person’s character.
The best way to self-assess is to consider your current situation – your accounts, your role, your income – and ask yourself the following questions: How did I get here? Am I building the right relationships? Did I do more? Did I speak up? I blamed others for my failures but robbed the people of my successes? You must own everything.

2. The best salespeople are resourceful

MacGyver was a popular program when I was in fifth grade. My friends and I would try to emulate MacGyver by turning a paperclip into a knife or key or something, but we basically just rotate it until it breaks – we don’t purely aspiring engineers.

But if you remember watching MacGyver, the premise is that the protagonist is placed in an impossible situation with very few tools, weapons, or resources, with very little time, and has to get out of the situation using only wits. himself and anything he can find in his pocket or put near him.

MacGyver didn’t stop, didn’t complain about the fact that he only had a paperclip to work with, while everyone else had a soldering iron. He did not lament how difficult his situation was. He simply gauges his strength and resources and does something about it. Every week, he finds a way to solve it. And every week he succeeds.

The best salespeople I’ve seen are like modern-day MacGyvers, mastering life-and-death scenarios. They often face difficult situations and time pressure, having to overcome any obstacles with just their wits and phones.

Elite salespeople almost always find a solution. Resourcefulness is a mindset as well as a skill. If you don’t start with a MacGyver mindset, you’ll never fully develop the skills involved in being resourceful.

As an exercise, when searching for or fully grasping the next impossible or absurd situation you find yourself in, and then put your phone down, close your computer, refocus, and use your energy. yourself to find multiple alternative routes to your desired destination. Find a colleague and draw it all out on a whiteboard. There’s always a MacGyver inside of you.

3. The best salespeople are professionals

Selling is not just about selling but it’s more about leadership, which requires a high level of confidence, therefore requires knowledge and experience. This concept can be expressed mathematically as Knowledge + Experience = Confidence to lead. You can control the first part of the equation; the second part depends on the time.

Gaining industry knowledge and having a strong opinion on the products they are selling should be a top priority for any salesperson. Must research. Must find out. And form an opinion. Expertise leads to confidence, leads to trust, leads to sales.

4. The best sales people always help others

No matter where you are in your career, there is always someone you can help. There are things you know about a product, a process, or an industry that a novice or novice don’t know.

The best salespeople I have observed regularly pass on their knowledge to inexperienced or inexperienced salespeople without expecting anything in return. Coincidentally or perhaps ironically, that very act becomes the catalyst for building confidence in themselves. And getting noticed by others is just as good.

Shawn Achor, author of Big Potential, found that people who are providers of social support in the workplace (the work of altruists) are 40% more likely to receive a promotion.

5. The best salespeople act quickly

The best salespeople don’t act recklessly, but they do create a sense of urgency. I have been surprised throughout my career when I have encountered salespeople who are slow to respond to their customers or buyers who are slow to deliver contracts or documents. needed to make a decision.

Most elite salespeople get the job done, as Norton quotes in The Shawshank Redemption—“Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now!” Look at the top salespeople in your company and see if they possess most if not all of these traits. I bet they have. And I also bet they will gladly share their strategy with you.

Source: GEM Globla collected from babuki.vn