The 5 Factors for Sales Success – The Magic Pill?

Over the years, we have listened to many business leaders ponder over the secret to sales success. Everyone seems to have similar but varying opinions about what it takes to succeed. They look to us for “The Magic Pill” to give to their struggling reps and hope to start seeing success right away.

After decades of training sales people, we believe we have come pretty close to “The Magic Pill” to attain success in sales.  The reality is there is no one magic pill or one simple factor when predicting success. However, with the right plan in place and the right people committed to the plan, promising results can be achieved.

The recipe for sales success is setting up each salesperson with The 5 Factors of Sales Success. When sales managers adopt and commit to setting each factor in place for every salesperson, they will see results. These factors are:

1. Product Knowledge
2. Natural Aptitude for Sales
3. Selling Skills
4. Motivation
5. Sales Process

The good news is three out of the five factors can be “MADE” by the organization training the salesperson (Product Knowledge, Selling Skills, Sales Process). The other factors, Natural Aptitude and Motivation, are the “BORN” factors that are more difficult (but not impossible) to find, develop or create. When you consider the studies that show Natural Aptitude as the most important factor for sales success, “The Magic Pill” is understanding that the top salespeople in the country are 50% BORN and 50% MADE.