Smile or script?
What makes a sales rep successful?
Sales is a truly human art. It involves communication on multiple levels, a building of rapport and trust. Good sales people get under your skin and understand what your true needs are, not just the ones you know of. And they make you feel good.
Does that mean that only the people with charisma at the level of Steve Jobs can be successful at sales? No! Because charm alone may help you open the door, but to close the deal you also need knowledge and processes. After chatting to hundreds of sales leaders in the last months, it is clear that we all agree that to be successful in sales is to have a combination of the right personality, and the right knowledge. What was not clear to me was whether we all agree on the relative importance of either? I decided to put it to the test.
I posted across several forums where professional sales people gather to ask them “How much of a sales rep’s success is down personality/emotional intelligence versus knowledge about the industry, sector, and company and processes?”. Is it 75–25, 50–50, or 25–75? What do you think?
It’s all about personality and charm!
There is something very basic about how the someone comes across when trying to sell you something. You wouldn’t buy from someone looking bored and checking their watch…
