I've been fortunate to manage 100+ salespeople in my career. I can say firsthand that the top performers all share similar qualities.
In today's issue, I'm going to teach you the top 5 qualities of successful salespeople.
The difference between A-player sales reps and everyone else is massive. When you have a team of A players, you can significantly outperform teams much larger.
People often only look at a rep's previous experience and ignore the character of the person themselves.
When you hire salespeople with the right qualities, you'll get:
Here are the qualities:
Grit may be the most overused quality to look for in salespeople, but that's for a reason. Sales is hard.
You will face constant rejection in sales. You will get countless "No's" before you get to a "Yes." Great reps look past the No's and stay laser-focused on the end goal.
Sales is very personal. We can say that we don't know the person and that we don't feel the rejection, but it's impossible to turn that all the way off.
The best put their head down, focus on improvement, and take the next action.
"Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals." Angela Duckworth
No book broke assertiveness down better than The Challenger Sale.
The Challenger Sale is still my favorite sales book of all time. The first time I read it, I noticed the Challenger profile on my team instantly. These reps were not afraid to be assertive.
They didn't tell the prospect what they wanted to hear. They knew their prospect's business inside and out and taught them a new way of looking at a problem.
If a rep only tells the prospect what they want to hear, the prospect will end up with the same result. It takes courage to tell a prospect there is a better way to do something.
Top reps don't believe they have everything figured out. They are confident but always open to improvement.
When new reps come in, they all follow the Dunning-Kruger Effect. They start out soaking up every bit of information until they get the first big win.
After that win, they throw out everything they've learned. Confidence is at an all-time high until they hit a wall and slide into the Valley of Despair.
Reps go in two directions at this point. Non-coachable reps never make it out of the Valley of Despair. Coachable reps show humility and soak in the coaching given to them. They progress along the competence curve and work every day to improve. They end up hitting numbers they didn't think possible.
Being great at sales is all about deeply knowing your customers and solving problems. To solve those problems, you need to do you're homework on the customer. The best reps are endlessly curious about their customers' business.
A great example of this is seeing what a rep does when they have downtime at a conference. Will they sit at the booth and catch up on emails? Or will they attend speaking sessions and learn about the current industry challenges? The latter will outperform the former every time.
Top reps don't wait for their company to supply them with the information they need to do their job. They are in the field asking questions all the time.
Top performers all have a growth mindset and take ownership of their development.
If someone has a fixed mindset, they will always look for why they can't do their job.
If someone has a growth mindset, they will always look for opportunities to improve.
Build a team of rockstars by looking for these qualities in your next sales candidate interview. A rockstar team will create an amazing culture and make it easier to recruit your next top performer. Great reps want to surround themselves with teammates who will push them to be their best.