The attributes listed below each play an important role in the achievement of sales success. However, the relative importance of each attribute differs based upon the unique requirements of each specific sales job.
Assertiveness: How self-assured is the individual? How effective are they at convincing others to take action?
Prospects and customers don’t always feel comfortable making decisions, even when the decisions are in their own personal and professional best interests. Salespeople need to be Assertive enough to help their prospects and customers make it over decision-making humps.
Attitude: How positive is the individual’s attitude? Do they perceive their glass to be half-empty or half-full?
A salesperson with a positive Attitude is able to bounce back from rejection, delays, and other sales challenges. They don’t waste time trying to place blame. Instead, they focus on finding positive resolutions to issues and looking for opportunities to replicate these successes.
Communication Skills: How precisely does the individual communicate, both verbally and in writing? Are their communications clear and effective?
Strong Communication Skills are especially important when a sales position requires the salesperson to make frequent presentations and/or write compelling letters and proposals.
Competitiveness: How competitive is the individual? How does the individual’s competitiveness manifest itself?
Competition can be a terrific motivator. However, it can also be taken to extremes. Excessively competitive salespeople may lose perspective and blindly pursue victory regardless of cost. This can lead to unprofitable sales, win-lose relationships with customers, and rocky relationships with suppliers, support personnel, and other sales team members.
Energy: How energetic is the individual? Are they always “on the go”, or do they need to be prodded into action?
High Energy is important for any sales role that requires significant prospecting activity. Plus, the level of Energy is often an indicator of whether a salesperson is internally motivated or externally motivated.
Salespeople with strong internal motivation rarely need to be prodded into action. A larger concern is that they may initiate action before they complete a plan of action (ready-shoot-aim). However, once a manager confirms that an internally motivated salesperson has a viable plan of action, they can rely on this salesperson to aggressively pursue the plan to completion with little further direction or encouragement.
Externally motivated salespeople require much more regular and frequent managerial attention than internally motivated salespeople. They may do excellent work when told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. However, they need frequent direction and regular encouragement in order to maintain the desired level of productivity.
Independence: How readily does the individual accept direction from others?
Highly Independent salespeople prefer to do their work with as little direction (which they interpret as interference) from their manager as possible. Less Independent salespeople are more likely to need and appreciate frequent interaction with their manager.
Learning Rate: How rapidly does the individual learn new information? What styles of learning are most productive for them?
Learning Rate should be an important consideration when planning any type of sales training program. Why? Because different individuals learn at different rates. To better understand the impact of learning rates, consider this example. How quickly can you fill a one-gallon bucket versus a one-gallon milk jug? Both vessels have the same one-gallon capacity. However, because the milk jug has a much smaller opening, you are forced to fill it at a much slower rate
Now, apply this concept to a training situation. If slower learners and faster learners are placed in the same class, what is likely to happen? There are several possibilities. First, the teaching pace may satisfy the faster learners. However, the slower learners won’t able to keep up. They will become frustrated and have a negative training experience. Second, the teaching pace may satisfy the slower learners. However, this pace will be too slow for the faster learners. They will become bored and have a negative training experience. Third, the teaching pace may be too fast for the slower learners, but too slow for the faster learners. Both groups will become frustrated and have a negative training experience!
Tolerance for Administration: How willing is the individual to perform administrative activities? How much attention do they pay to details?
Details? Don’t all salespeople hate details? How can this attribute be important to sales success?
Actually, there are a number of sales roles that require attention to detail and a tolerance for administration. One example is the financial advisor who must comply with strict regulatory requirements. Another example is the salesperson who is responsible for increasing account penetration. Before they can increase account penetration, they need to conduct research to determine how much of their company’s portfolio a customer is already buying. A third example is the salesperson who sells warranty renewals. This salesperson must examine historical records to determine when a customer’s warranties expire, and what kinds of service upgrades and add-ons might be appropriate.
Tolerance for administration is also beneficial in any sales role where the salesperson is expected to submit accurate forecasts and update records in the company’s CRM (Client Relationship Management) system in a timely fashion.