Extraordinary salespeople accept nothing less than being at the top of their game every day. They realise they are a key component of every company’s success and understand that it’s not an easy job. There are no guaranteed deals with everything based on the number of potential opportunities available. While the work may not always be enjoyable, top-performing salespeople will thrive without any form of guarantees in their day-to-day roles. To them, every potential deal is a worthy challenge that pushes them to work harder than their industry peers.
Not every person is a born sales leader though, but many commonalities can be found in the personality traits of successful salespeople. Some of these traits include strength & confidence as they argue their cause, are action-oriented and have no fear to call high ranking accounts, they daringly cold call potential prospects every day in search of their next challenge.
You can have all the right sales tools, education and training and yet there is just something missing. It takes a certain personality to prosper and thrive in the fast-paced, dynamic environment of a sales floor. Evidence suggests that the personality traits of successful salespeople play a critical role in determining their success.
BE ABLE TO DISREGARD ALL OF THE TIMES YOU HEAR NO
The everyday life of a salesperson can be pretty repetitive, doing the same thing every day. It really requires a special kind of mental durability to disregard all of the times you hear NO. Successful, salespeople love their sales career and commit to becoming excellent. They disregard the time and the sacrifices it takes to improve and become the very best at what they do.
THEY CAN SELL ICE TO THE ESKIMOS
How many times have you heard the term He/ she could sell ice to the eskimos. What does this mean? Max Sacks International, Seattle showed that In-depth research of the top 3 percent of outstanding sales professionals and top performers share two common characteristics – the ability to establish rapport with their customers and the consistent creation of an atmosphere of trust in all their sales relationships.
THERE ARE SPECIFIC TRAITS YOU NEED
To add to this Steve W. Martin of the Harvard Business Review conducted a study where personality tests were given to established technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops. From this study, the findings indicated that key personality traits directly influenced the top performers’ selling style and added to their success.
PERSONALITY TRAITS OF SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE
- Modesty
- Conscientiousness
- Achievement Orientation
- Curiosity
- Lack of Gregariousness
Other studies also showed:
- The Discipline to Follow Up
- Charisma
- Resilience
- Empathy
- People Skills
- Tenacity
- Confidence
- Optimism
- Accountability
- Ambitious
- Passionate
- Independent
- Disciplined
- Positive
- Adaptable
UNDERSTAND THE TYPE OF SALESPERSON YOU ARE
These vitally important traits serve more than to enable sales professionals to reach their prospects, they are the best way to secure repeat business. Buyers and sellers are emotional human beings, which is why great salespeople are masters at managing their own emotions.
To accomplish this, the very best salespeople cultivate the above traits. Some salespeople are more successful than others because they understand what type of salesperson they are and how to utilize their key characteristics or personality traits. The business world as we know it today is more competitive than ever before because of salespeople.
So, are you a natural Sales Person? Do you have a money making personality?
