Imagine your ideal salesperson: They always close deals. They’re optimistic in the face of challenges. Your customers love interacting with them.
Finding a team of ideal salespeople could greatly impact your company’s success. So, before you begin the hiring process, keep that ideal salesperson in mind. It’s important to determine the characteristics that make a candidate a compelling salesperson.
When you come to each interview already knowing what you’re looking for, hiring winning talent is an easier endeavor. And, sure, there may not actually be the perfect salesperson, but there are a few essential sales skills that all ideal hires possess.
Let’s uncover which characteristics you should look for in order to hire winning talent for your sales team.
3 Characteristics Of The Ideal Salesperson
1. They’re persistent.
One trait that all successful salespeople have in common is their persistence to sell, even after receiving an initial “no” from a potential client. While the wrong kind of salesperson comes off as pushy in working to close deals, the right kind of salesperson is assertive with their selling points, demonstrating effective sales skills in the face of challenges.
If a potential customer doesn’t see the benefit in your product after the first attempt at selling, your ideal salesperson must be able to try again from another compelling angle, offering new solutions to the customer’s suggestions.
Let’s say, for example, that your company offers corporate tax services. Your salespeople are likely to get a lot of easy yeses from qualified sales leads right before tax season, but objections later in the year when the need is less pressing. Instead of writing those initial sales attempts off as failures, they should have the persistence to try again, working to convince potential customers that taking a proactive approach to corporate tax services is more beneficial than signing on at the last minute.
2. They’re optimistic.
Optimism is a quality to look for whenever you’re seeking to hire winning talent, but it’s especially important for your sales team.
It’s not just about having salespeople that are positive in the face of new challenges. It’s also about ensuring that your qualified sales leads are working with optimistic, enthusiastic people.
There may be a season when your company faces more closed doors from potential clients than ones open to new business, but that doesn’t get the ideal salesperson down. Let’s go back to the corporate tax company example. The months nearing April 15 are hot selling times, but there’s likely a lull during the summer. An optimistic salesperson continues to sell, even when the season is less conducive to new business.
3. They listen.
Think about a sales encounter you’ve had in the past that wasn’t so pleasant. Poor communication was probably the cause of this negative experience. Maybe you felt like you weren’t being heard or the salesperson wasn’t speaking to your needs.
The ideal salesperson is one who listens to customers’ needs before beginning a sales pitch. They understand a qualified sales lead’s objectives and what that lead wants out of the business relationship.
A successful sales pitch is not about listing the best attributes of a product or why a service is essential for every company. The best salespeople know how to listen to the customer’s needs and explain how their product or service meets those needs. The sales conversation is a two-way street, and the ideal salesperson knows how to make interaction customer-oriented.
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