The Difference in Top Sales Performers

I’ve worked with thousands of salespeople in my career, first as a salesperson, then as a sales manager, then as a training manager, and now as the owner of my own sales training firm. Like most people in our industry, I’ve seen and worked with wildly successful salespeople, and also major failures. What makes the difference between a successful sales career and an unsuccessful sales career?

The truth is, there isn’t one factor, or trait, or skill set that will set you apart from all the others in your company or your industry. There’s a combination of qualities that, when combined, will yield exceptional sales results. I call this group of traits the “12 Qualities of a Wildly Successful Salesperson.”

While a discussion of all twelve isn’t appropriate in one blog article, we can do a nice job of discussing the first quality of the twelve: “A Burning Desire to Make Sales.”

The following are ten sales candidates with ten different secret points-of-view, along with accompanying strengths. Let’s imagine they’ve all applied for a sales position with your company, Mr. or Ms. Sales Manager. Read over the brief descriptions and decide which one you would hire.

I suggest you hire the first one:

Sales Candidate #1: Melissa is always looking for sources of revenue. She loves the thrill of closing the deal, and doesn’t feel complete unless she experiences that thrill on a very regular basis. She plays well with others, but knows when to break away. She follows the rules unless they stand in the way of a sale. She likes her customers but can put them in her place. She is driven by the desire to make sales happen.

Sales Candidate #2: Josie loves to be part of a group. She loved her last job where she and her seven colleagues would get together for potluck lunches and go out after work. She’s a joiner. Her motto? If I have to spend this much time at work, I want to have fun and enjoy the people I work with.” Josie is driven by relationships with coworkers and the feelings they create.

Sales Candidate #3: Martin is passionate about his product. He was a customer before he became a salesperson. He loves widgets. He’s sold them for 15 years now, and knows as much about widgets as just about anybody does. He knows all the product details, history, and information that other salespeople, and sometimes customers, look for. He’s driven by accumulating product and technical knowledge and sharing it with others.

Sales Candidate #4: Lexi is a helper. Lexi loves to be helpful, both to her coworkers and her customers. She’ll go out of her way to assist someone in need. “Compassion” is her middle name, and she shows it not only with her words, but also with her actions. She’ll spend her own time, and sometimes her own money, to solve a problem for a customer. She believes she was put on this earth to be helpful, and she lives this belief every day.

Sales Candidate #5: David is a great follower. If you need something done, you can ask David to do it knowing that it will be completed correctly and on time. He follows up on all sales and non-sales issues as appropriate. His talent is taking direction, and manager’s love him. He is reliable and steady, and does what he says he’s going to do. David is driven by making his manager happy.

Sales Candidate #6: Lenny loves people. He lights up a room with his charisma, good looks, and smile. You can often hear him laughing in the company’s facility, in the distance and often. He likes positive environments, loves people, and almost always has a positive take on things. He has a joyful outlook on life, and is happy to be here…or anywhere! Lenny derives great energy from being around others and prefers being around people to just about anything else. He’s always on the phone, out for lunch, or with someone. Lenny is driven to have contact with others.

Sales Candidate #7: Patty has a great sense of humor. Patty is a jokester who can’t pass up an opportunity to pull a prank, tell a joke, or make a sarcastic comment underneath her breath. She’s the life of the party, always seeking attention and usually getting it. People love her natural style, and she seems very comfortable in her body. Patty believes few situations can’t be made better with a little humor mixed in.

Sales Candidate #8: Lynn is the most organized salesperson in her current company. Lynn has the cleanest desk in the world. She’s created her own filing system and task lists. She knows where everything is and gets frustrated if someone comes in and screws up her system. She’s methodical and practical. She needs structure to get her job done. She’s driven by achieving order.

Sales Candidate #9: Liz has the traits of your company’s customer. Your company sells high end widgets to female consumers, and she’s purchased lots of widgets herself. Her husband is an executive in a well-paying job, and she spends her time with the right crowd. Money isn’t usually an object for her, so she thought it would be fun to sell widgets since she buys them all the time anyway. Liz is driven by owning widgets, just like your customers are.

Sales Candidate #10: Reese is a big talker. She always has a story to tell about a big sale she made or a deal in the works. She knows all the other competitors and knows who works where and why they left or why they hired every employee. She has her finger on the pulse of the industry, and she talks about everybody. Reese is driven by the attention she receives from knowing inside information.

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The truth is: any one of these candidates might make a fantastic salesperson. But, based upon the limited information provided about each one, I would be most excited about interviewing the first candidate, Melissa. Many other negative traits can be overcome, but if a salesperson doesn’t possess a core-level desire to make sales, other things will always come first, and sales will come second, and that’s not good.

If you want selling to come first in your sales in themployees, hire salespeople who put selling first. It’s who they are. It’s part of their DNA. Almost all top performers in athletics, business, and entertainment are there because of their burning passion and desire to make it bigeir chosen field. Selling is no different.

Burning desire is the difference that makes the difference in achieving selling success.

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