What Makes A Good Salesperson?

There comes a time in every consultant\’s life when for some unknown reason they feel the need to document their thoughts on the defining characteristics of successful sales people. Well, now it\’s my time.

In fact this is a hugely difficult question to answer. Everyone\’s views are naturally biased by their own unique experience. And one persons experience can never match up to hard evidence from research. But in a field where there has been relatively little rigorous research, the vocie of experience can add depth and flavour.

I\’ve been lucky enough to work with hundreds of salespeople from over 20 different countries – so at least my own personal, biased thoughts are based on a reasonably large and diverse sample.

So here we go: my view on the top 4 defining characteristics of great salespeople.

1. Passion. It\’s almost impossible to successfully sell a product or service you don\’t really believe in and that you\’re not really passionate about.

Sometimes people joke that \”if you can fake sincerity, you\’ve got it made\”. But my experience has been that customers can easily spot this. It\’s impossible to fake real passion. You either need to find passion for your products and services, or find other products and services to sell.

2. Likeability. If your customer don\’t like you, the conversation very rarely gets any further. It\’s the starting point for trust and relationship building.

Now it is possible to trust someone without liking them. But in the world of sales, someone who isn\’t likeable never gets the opportunity to prove their trustworthiness. It\’s a basic pre-requisite to building relationships.

3. Resilience. Being turned down is just part of the job of a salesperson. Successful salespeople can\’t afford to need everyone to like them – they need a thick skin and an ability to learn and move on quickly from failure.

4. Willingness and Energy to Learn. The world is changing at an ever increasing pace. Successful salespeople must keep up with this. They must adapt to new technologies, new approaches to meet and build relationships with customer. And to keep learning.

If you can build your skills in all these areas you\’ll be well on your way to a super successful career in sales.

Ian Brodie helps professional service firms to get better at selling their services. To get a free copy of Ian\’s ebook on how to get more referrals, sign up to his newsletter on how to get more clients.