I get tons of questions around the most important characteristics of successful salespeople. There are several that top people have in common, regardless of what they’re selling, if they’re on the phone or in the field, or who their customer base is.
Before we get into characteristics that make salespeople successful, note that, if you want to do really well in sales, you should only choose to work at a company with a great product. While you can be successful with bad products, a bad product means you probably won’t feel good about it–not to mention that you will be fighting an uphill battle.
If you choose the right product to sell, the right company to join, and the compensation structure promotes success, develop any of these qualities that you don’t already have to capture the most success in your sales career!
Characteristics of Successful Salespeople
The will to win
This is the single most important quality. If you’re reading this, you likely have it. You have the will to win if you push harder than some people think is “reasonable” in order to get something done. Do you sometimes (accidentally) offend people when you’re trying to accomplish your goal? Has anyone described you as “abrasive”? It’s ok to answer “no” to these questions–that doesn’t mean you’re lacking. But if you said “yes,” that’s a big clue (or you’re just a jerk–ask your manager or mentor to help you figure out which is which!).
Most organizations still have things to figure out–either the organization is young (like a start-up) or the world is changing faster than most people can keep up (like everywhere else). Someone with this quality is someone who won’t let anything get in the way of their success. They will do things like talk to everyone who’s already successful, read everything they can, be coachable, and try new things in order to win. It’s hard to write about all the things a person who has this quality will do because they’ll keep trying and pushing until they figure out how to be successful. The people that I know who score a ten out of ten on this have been successful in every role that I’ve seen them in. You can be, too!
How do you develop this quality?
Figure out what you want and why. Do you want this job because people tell you that you should have a job? If so, you’re not going to be very motivated to go the extra mile. If you’re taking this job because you’ll make a lot of money, spend some time figuring out why you want that amount of money. What’s going to propel you to work harder than everyone around you for the extra couple thousand this month?
And it doesn’t have to be money. Do you want to build a career? Something else? The WHY is much more important than the WHAT. Spend time thinking about your future and figuring out why you want this.
My favorite example of the will to win is Michael Jordan. Did you know he was cut from his schools JV team in high school? Undeterred, he spent his entire summer practicing jump shots, dribbling, and free throws–and won a spot on the varsity team. The rest is history.
Coachability
On the other hand, no salesperson has to completely reinvent the wheel. But for some reason, many try. Those reps will struggle until they decide to adopt what we already know works. The rep who craves coaching, immediately implements it, and continues to refine will come in way ahead of those who do not.
How do you develop this quality?
Google “mount stupid.” Seriously, go ahead. I’ll wait. Ok, you’re back? If you can skip the peak of Mount Stupid and begin in the Valley of Despair, you actually won’t feel as much despair! Most of the terrible feeling comes from the contrast–you felt like you knew a lot, then realized you didn’t. Save yourself the heartache and realize you don’t know anything, but the people who are successful at what you want to do know something (still not everything). Learn as much as you can from those people before trying to do something new.
Curiosity
Asking good questions is key to being a good salesperson. Someone who naturally asks questions because they are curious has a leg up over those who do not. This can manifest itself in many ways, but here’s one that I’ve seen several times: A prospect throws up two objections that contradict each other. The rep who scores low on curiosity will get confused and ask their manager for the prepared answer to each one. A curious rep will point out to the prospect that they contradict and say something like, “Hey John, I noticed you said X and Y. I might be misunderstanding you, but the way I think about those things means that they can’t both be true at the same time. Could you please tell me more about them and what you mean?”
How do you develop this quality?
I’m not sure you can develop it–I think most people have it but are only curious about things they’re interested in. If you frame this to yourself as being interested in your own success or in building your book of business, you’re likely to ask questions that get you closer to that goal.
Urgency
You have a number to hit. I’ve carried daily, weekly, and monthly numbers. The problem is that the longer the time frame, the easier it is to believe you have time to make up your number. You don’t. Someone who acts with urgency works with the same intensity at the beginning of the month as at the end.
How do you develop this quality?
If you have the characteristics we’ve already discussed, but not urgency, then it is likely due to missing a skill. Structure your time like this in order to force yourself to act with urgency (this is built for monthly quota, but you can adapt to the timeframe you have):
Multiply your goal by 125%; you now have your new monthly goal. If you aim for this and miss, you’re very likely to hit your number.
Divide the result by the number of work days in the month. You know have your daily goal.
Divide your day into thirds. Divide your daily goal into thirds (round up). Do everything you can to hit that number in this third of the day. Once this third is over, you are back at zero.
Here’s an example:
Quota: $500,000
New monthly goal: $625,000
Selling days this month: 20
Daily goal: $31,250
Goal period goal: $10,417 every 3 hours
Plug in the relevant metrics for your role. If you’re an SDR, it might be demos booked, demos performed, or opportunities accepted. If you’re a full-cycle salesperson, you might have a goal around deals sold, leads generated, or cold calls. You should use this method to build urgency around the metric that is going to have the biggest impact on your number. Figure out which skill would help you close the gap on that metric.
It’s hard to come up with characteristics of successful salespeople that are universal, but I’ve never been part of a sales organization where these four weren’t rewarded with strong success. Individually, they are powerful, but together, you can develop what you need to be a top person in nearly any organization.
Want some help building out your hiring process? Shoot me a message!
