The Profile of a Top Salesperson

The top salespeople have the following profile based on five factors.

1. They are “knowledge giants”.

They know what they are talking about. They have a perfect understanding of their product or service.  They understand their competition and the competitive landscape.  They come across to prospects as ‘go to’ people because they really know what they’re talking about, and they can help prospects solve real business problems.  This product knowledge gives them power and confidence.

2. They have an aptitude for sales. It’s in the DNA.

“All of us have a natural aptitude for some jobs and won’t do well in others. In Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great, “ one of the bottom lines is to get the right people in the right seat on the bus, in jobs where they have natural talent or aptitude.”

3. They have the Top-Ten Skills of the Elite Salespeople, which are generally unknown to the average salesperson.

“Some of the skills are counterintuitive.  They do not come naturally so they must be learned,”  For instance, someone with a “driver” personality is not a natural-born listener – yet listening is the number one skill.  So it must be learned.

Another skill is patience coupled with perseverance.  “Most salespeople give a lot of prospects a few touches.  Top salespeople pick a few top prospects and give them a lot of touches.   When you get a new B2B prospect, you have to give them on average 12 touches before they will buy.”

In Asher’s sales training experience, when you give a person with a natural talent for sales the top 10 skills of the elite salespeople, you will usually see an explosive growth in sales by that salesperson.

4. They are motivated.

Motivation involves the following considerations:

• Is the person self-motivated? If they test high for sales aptitude, they are usually self-motivated. If they do not test high for sales aptitude, they need to be motivated by sales managers.

• What type of salesperson are they? The two basic types are “hunters” and “farmers”, and if they are mismatched to the job, their motivation will suffer.  A hunter likes the thrill of the hunt, the challenge and will be most motivated by acquiring new accounts.  A farmer likes to have many accounts that he or she can nurture for up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.  If you have a hunter in a hunter job, he or she will be motivated.  Put a hunter in a farmer’s job and motivation declines quickly.

• Where is the salesperson in his or her life? Are they single and trying to build wealth, thinking about money all of the time? Or, are they middle-aged, having made a substantial nest egg, and don’t need so much money?  Motivation could be affected accordingly.

5. They are supported by a great company sales process.

“Most top-performing companies have ‘best practice’ branding, marketing, sales, and customer service processes to support the salespeople. You won’t see a great salesperson working in a company with unsatisfactory processes.”

So the profile of top salespeople is that they’re knowledge giants who help customers solve real business problems, they have a natural talent for outside sales, and they have the top 10 skills and use them.  They’re self-motivated and they’re at that point in their lives where they’re charged up to make more sales.  And they’re working in companies where they are supported by best practice processes for branding, marketing, sales and customer service.  When all five of those are clicking along, you have a top salesperson.

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