Are great salespeople born? Or are they made? It is a question that confounds many sales managers desperate to hire and hone a winning team. The answer is both. And if you want to survive in the fiercely competitive post-COVID economy, you must know how to identify and coach for the traits that equip salespeople to acquire new business.
Every company needs hunters, especially today. The stakes are just too high. Just knowing which skills to look for, and which to train for, gives you a huge advantage. A data driven approach to hiring literally can save a company hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Here are 10 of the most important factors to look for in prospects in your existing sales team.
5 non-teachable traits to look for
No. 1 — Need for Achievement
This is the inner desire to reach even the most challenging goals. As a person’s Need for Achievement grows, their motivation grows, too. A robust record of accomplishments often showcases a candidate’s high Need to Achieve.
No. 2 — Competitiveness
Some people are born with an inner fire that makes them want to achieve more than anyone else and win each customer over. Candidates with innate Competitiveness can keep themselves going and persevere long after others have given up. Your organization needs salespeople who go to great lengths to get an answer from each prospect and close every sale.
No. 3— Optimism
Optimism is an undeniable certainty that if someone puts in the work and pursues a goal, a positive outcome is simply a matter of time. When assessing sales skills, Optimism is essential because, in many ways, sales is a numbers game. While there can certainly be lucky breaks that include a series of wins in a short amount of time, salespeople will often hear “no” many times before they finally reach a “yes.”
No. 4 — Resiliency
Life can be a little messy, and the world of sales often is, too. Unexpected things happen. As you know, there will be plenty of times when your salesperson is sure a customer is going to buy, but then they quickly change their mind. Salespeople with the natural sales skill of resiliency can bounce back quickly, learn everything they can from their mistakes, and grow from each challenge in the end.
No. 5 — Curiosity
Your company sells to a huge variety of customers, right? No matter what you sell, you are likely part of a market that changes quickly, with ever evolving products to meet customer needs. When you hire a naturally curious salesperson who wants to learn more about products, people, and the solutions they need, you will have a valuable teammate who is able to adapt to all scenarios.
5 teachable sales skills to coach for
Moving beyond the innate skills, you will also want to keep an eye out for the beginnings of skills you can teach, coach, and further refine. These skills include:
No. 1 — Confidence
This is simply the ability to freely express opinions or concerns while remaining on an even keel, despite inevitable rejection. A salesperson with true confidence can even move into the role of trusted advisor who offers real value to clients.
No. 2 — Persuasiveness
Salespeople with a well-developed sense of persuasiveness love the process of selling, negotiating, and changing opinions. They are likable and can easily find common ground to help foster emotional bonds and shared objectives. Truly persuasive salespeople make it clear they are on the customer’s side and know how to wait for the perfect time to ease into the sale.
No. 3 — Relationship Skills
When assessing the sales skills of your prospective salespeople, study their history of establishing and maintaining business relationships. Top producing salespeople are highly skilled at reading interactions in a room and knowing when to take center stage and when to let other people have the floor. Well-developed relationship skills involve not only talking but active listening, with a strict focus on asking intelligent follow-up questions.
No. 4 — Organization
When your salespeople know how to stay orderly, keep track of every task, and avoid mistakes, they have more time to spend on high gain selling activities. Every moment spent retracing their steps because they are not organized are lost opportunities and lost revenue.
No. 5 — Problem-Solving
There are far more potential obstacles in sales than you could ever create training for. Do not focus on finding new salespeople who can memorize every single thing they may need to do in their jobs. Instead, search for those who can problem solve on the spot. The kind of salespeople you most need to hire will be energized by this part of their work, rather than frustrated by the think-on-their-feet effort it requires.
When you know which traits to look for in the hiring process, and which ones to focus on as you coach new employees, you can make huge strides toward creating a high performing sales team. This should be top priority as you prepare your company to move full force into the recovering economy.
Dr. Christopher Croner is principal at SalesDrive and coauthor (along with Richard Abraham) of "Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again,"" which details his research and practice in identifying the non-teachable personality traits common to top producers. To learn more, visit salesdrive.info.
Comments