Mar '23 in General Student Chat
10 Traits that you need to get hired as a sales rep...
One of the most frequent posts in the group is how to hire sales pros.
As always with running a business, hiring and firing is one of the top struggles.
Most of the time we hire a sales pro based on looks and attitude.
We have an idea of how a sales pro should look and talk.
The ugly truth is that clients don't care how well groomed or good looking their sales rep is.
What they care about is getting a solution to their nagging problem.
Sales is all about mindset, not about looks, a suit and tie or a great haircut.
I know roughneck dudes covered in tattoos that can sell circles around any suit and tie dude on the planet.
I want to share with you what I think the top 10 traits you want in a sales pro are.
Some of these are pretty simple and common sense, others are traits a lot of business owners and managers don't think of.
1) Wants to win:
No one wants to work with a loser, so wanting to win is a trait that's a must when it comes to hiring.
When you have a sales rep that wants to win the sale, they will work hard to do the right things for the prospect to ensure they win the sale.
2) Has great follow up:
This is probably the most important trait any sales pro must have to be successful.
It takes up to 20 follow ups to close a sale these days.
If they aren't created and committed to the follow up, they will fail themselves, fail your company and ultimately fail you.
3) Lives and dies by the company CRM:
A CRM is crucial to a sales pro's success.
If the sales pro fights using the company CRM, they shouldn't have a job.
CRMs not only make the manager's job better, they manage the sales and follow up process for the sales pro.
Without a CRM and a rep using it religiously, you are doomed to miss a ton of sales.
4) Willing to start at the bottom:
In my experience, sales pros who think they are too good to do the grunt work, don't work out.
Sales pros need to be willing to do anything in order to be good for the culture and team.
It's one thing to have a Closer, but if that Closer acts like he's to good to do the small things, you will find him or her skipping over the big things too.
5) Risk taker:
Sales ain't a place to play it safe.
Salespeople make most, if not all of their money on commission.
If they aren't willing to take some risks and they play it safe, they won't ever get off the draw and move up the ladder of success.
6) Has a servant mindset:
The best sales pros know they must serve their clients not just sell them.
When they care about the prospect, the prospect converts to a client.
When you try to "sell" someone it can backfire, but when you serve someone, they feel like you care about them and genuinely want to help solve their problems.
7) Loves people:
It's really hard to work in sales and not be a people person.
I don't mean you have to be an extrovert, but if you don't like people, it's gonna be really hard for you to sell to people.
If you love people and want to help them, sales is a hell of a lot easier on you.
8) Is coachable:
We can all learn something new daily.
If a sales rep thinks he or she knows it all, then any time you update a SOP or change something, it's gonna be really really hard to get them on board.
And you definitely don't need or want that headache.
Plus if they are struggling, you are gonna need to coach them up.
If they ain't coachable then everyone just wastes their time.
9) Competitive spirit:
You want a sales pro who comes in and challenges the other reps in a good competitive, yet friendly way.
When the new guy runs up the score, the rest of the competitive guys and gals start to really take the numbers up.
If the rep isn't the competitive type then they will be satisfied being average and no one wants average sales reps.
10) Willing to lead and follow:
I think that in order to be a good leader, you need to be a good follower.
This makes good sense for companies with middle management.
The sales rep needs to lead the sales team but also needs to follow the SOPs and orders from management.
For those of you looking to hire sales pros, look at this list and make sure your potential hires check every box before you sign them.
If they don't check off all the boxes, let them go and find someone who will.
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10 Traits that you need to get hired as a sales rep...
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