No one list of traits exactly describes every successful salesperson – they are as diverse as members of any other profession.
They include both extroverts and introverts and all the degrees in between: shy and outspoken, talkative and quiet. However, certain core characteristics seem to be present to some degree in most successful salespeople, despite the numerous ways individuals express and adapt them to their own styles.
Based on my observations over the years, here are some characteristics I believe are important:
• Enthusiasm – Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” In one survey, sales executives indicated that the most important characteristic in new salespeople is enthusiasm. A distinction must be made between people who are enthusiastic about their product and those who are merely eager to take the prospect’s money.
Enthusiasm in salespeople is based on a genuine belief in the product and conviction that it will service the needs of the prospect. Such enthusiasm is communicated both verbally and nonverbally to the prospect in terms of the salesperson’s own personality. Enthusiasm may be expressed as calm, quiet confidence or excited activity. However it is demonstrated, real enthusiasm is highly attractive and reassuring to prospects.
• Sincerity – Prospects spot insincerity quickly and lose interest. Salespeople who operate from a position of sincerity find the sale situation flowing naturally. Prospects are likely to respond positively to a salesperson who appears sincere in the enthusiasm exhibited in the product, in the expression of interest in the prospect’s needs, and in the recommendation of a specific buying decision. When salespeople just pretend to be sincere, prospects either recognize the pretense or feel a vague lack of trust that is expressed by indecision about buying.
• Empathy – Successful salespeople seem to act upon the assumption that every prospect wears a sign that reads, “Please make me feel important.” They are sensitive to the moods and personalities of buyers. Empathy, the ability to understand another person’s concerns, opinions, and needs – whether sharing them or not – provides salespeople with the sales edge of being able to think and understand “with” the prospect during a sales call. The prospect perceives the salesperson with empathy as a problem solver rather than as a living sales catalog.
• Goal Direction – Successful salespeople operate on the basis of goals. They know what they want from a sales career and are willing to work as hard as they must to attain those goals. Goal-directed salespeople often respond positively to incentives such as money, prestige, recognition, and pride of accomplishment, which they see as tools they can use to reach their overall goals. When these incentives fit into their overall plan for achieving the goals that represent self-actualization for them, salespeople go all out to win them.
Awards, plaques, prizes, and other sales recognition devices serve as a means of helping salespeople feel they have fulfilled their need for social and peer acceptance. They are then free to move up to satisfaction of higher needs – the levels at which they find it easier to exercise empathy and serve the needs of others, prime requirements for becoming master salespeople.
• Ability to Ask Questions – Good salespeople ask questions; poor ones just keep talking. The salesperson needs to remain in control of the sales interview, and the person who is asking the questions is the person who is the one in control. Salespeople who learn to ask the right kinds of questions get new prospects, discover qualifying information that points out the best prospects, uncover prospects’ dominant buying motives, and prevent objections and stalls. Asking questions is the salesperson’s best tool for keeping the interview on track and moving toward a successful close, while also giving the prospect the feeling of remaining in control of the situation.
• Resourcefulness – Top salespeople are resourceful. On the spur of the moment, they can think of new ways to make an old point, new applications and creative uses for products, and unique reasons for a particular prospect to make a buying decision. They can think on their feet under pressure. Resourcefulness comes from an agile and analytical mind and allows the salesperson to stay on the right side of the fine line between just right and very wrong.
In the sales situation, the right word or phrase clears away the fog and reveals the solutions. The wrong word or phrase is like putting a drop of ink into a glass of water, it obscures everything. Resourceful salespeople always seem to have at hand a barrelful of all sorts of ideas and strategies Their secret is that they work diligently at filling their barrels by keeping records of what has worked in the past, by studying product information and general industry needs, and by learning how to deal with people. Under pressure, their well-stocked barrels generally contain the right strategy.
• Perseverance – Setbacks outnumber triumphs, and salespeople must have reserves of strength and resilience to fall back on when this happens. Depending upon the type of sales activity and the product or service being marketed, the number of sales closed compared to the number of presentations made usually ranges from 5 percent to 50 percent or more. Salespeople need perseverance in several areas: the ability to keep going to another prospect no matter how many have refused to buy; the ability to make repeated presentations to the same prospect over a period of time; the ability to continue asking for an appointment to make a presentation until one is finally granted.
• Pleasant personality – The way to make a friend is to be one. The salesperson with a pleasant, outgoing disposition is remembered and favored. A key to forming a pleasant personality is to like people and to genuinely enjoy knowing as many different kinds of people as possible. People respond to those who like them. Because personality is basically a set of habitual responses to others, developing a genuine interest in people and their unique qualities produces sincerely positive responses to those you meet. Sincerity prompts trust and confidence in you and encourages prospects to follow your recommendations for buying.
• Initiative – Successful salespeople are self-motivated. They are self-starters who exercise initiative. They cannot wait to be told to prospect, to be assigned calls to make or to be urged to end the presentation with a close. They must see the work that needs to be done and take personal responsibility for doing it. Creative ideas that surface during a presentation must be implemented then and there – without time to ask the sales manager for advice.
Salespeople who have self-confidence supported by adequate product knowledge and belief in their own ability to succeed feel free to exercise initiative. Initiative is supported by a high energy level, and a love of independence balanced with rigid self-discipline