Profile of great salespeople

I’ve been involved in a number of conversations recently about how to profile a fantastic salesperson. It turns out that I take a different approach than many to answering this question. Subject matter expertise is a nice to have, but four personality characteristics are not negotiable. These four characteristics are a leading indicator to wildly successful salespeople in the client- centric sales organizations that I lead. Further, a team full of people like this generates momentum as they engage with and support each other. The team becomes more than the sum of its parts as each team member supports the others to be successful.

A fantastic client- centric salesperson first must care about the success of their prospects. They work hard to ensure their prospect has a fantastic experience and a great outcome. Doing so increases loyalty leading to referrals and repeat business.

There are lots of caring salespeople that lack curiosity. Yes, they want their prospect to have a good experience but aren’t curious enough to deeply understand the prospects needs and the drivers behind them. Salespeople with a deep sense of curiosity are the best qualifiers. That leads to developing better solutions which result in optimal outcomes for the prospects.

Once the prospect’s problem or opportunity is well understood and the salesperson understands the impact of a great solution, it is time to think creatively about how to best build the solution. Very often this looks like a combination of company- built products and partner solutions. A good salesperson needs to be creative enough to tap into all of the assets at their disposal to put together the right overall solution for their prospect.

Finally, once the problem or opportunity is understood and a strong solution is proposed, the best salespeople will confidently advocate for that solution because they are convinced that it is in the prospect’s best interest. Confidence allows salespeople to stand up against objections and continue to advocate in the face of resistance. Persistence born of confidence that you are providing a benefit is motivational.

So there you have it, the best salespeople are caring, curious, creative, and confident. The sky is the limit if you can build a team with these characteristics.