From our Director Lars Neilsen
When looking at your current team or when hiring someone new, what are some characteristics for a great salesperson?
- Understand someone else’s motivation.
What is the lead going to use the product for, why are they buying it?
Paint the picture of post product usage, what will life look like then?
- Debate with a smile.
When asking challenging questions, it can be perceived as confrontational. So, remember to ask questions with a smile on your lips.
- High energy.
They spend energy on talking, present, and be the best when they’re on. They speak with many people, go on a lot of visits, and call a lot of people. They prepare themselves.
- Attention on resources.
And even though they’re using a lot of energy, they’re conservative with their resources. They’re not spending time with dead ends, and clients who will never buy from them. They will not spend time on admin and jobs not related to closing a sale.
- Comfortable on stage.
When selling, they are I their element whether this is at a table or on stage in front of 200 people. They have an inner calm and belief making them trustworthy.
- Self motivation
The best set targets, and chase them. They make up their mind and give it all they have, losing is not an option. They want the prize.
- Not a quitter.
When a client wants to leave, they can take it on the chin and find a new way. If a colleague can’t make a presentation they find an extra gear and steps up. They aren’t afraid to start over and will rise from defeat again and again.
- Innovation
They will find new ways and ideas when finding solutions with clients. They will analyse, research and ask questions to come up with what is needed to get the sale closed.
- Walk away
A salesperson must know when to say no, when to walk away from a negotiation. They know when a deal isn’t a good deal, when revenue has no profit.
- Working ahead
They know that even though this month might be great, they still need a healthy pipeline to create revenue next month and in six months. They spend time every day feeding the pipeline with new leads.
Upskilling your team to become better salespeople takes time, effort and persistence. You as a manager have tonnes of other things to do every day, so your time dedicated to coaching and upskilling is probably – like most managers – less than an hour per week. And that doesn’t move mountains. We focus on this, implementing processes and generating revenue with your team.
Many of life’s failures are people who do not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thomas Edison