ARE SALES PEOPLE MADE OR BORN? Table of content 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Seven Emerging competencies in sales 1.

3 Hiring salespersons 5 1.4 Qualities to be a great sales person REFERENCES 8 1.0 Introduction

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The question are salespeople born or made? has been asked for decades and the deba te rages on. Many will argue that they are born. I disagree, in part. Essentiall y you can train anyone in anything if they really want to learn. They may not be brilliant at it but if they are determined they can usually make a good go of i t. Which is why selling can be taught. But like any task there will be those who are naturally suited to the task and those who have to work a lot harder to get good results. The analogy of swimming which is not an easy sport to learn is a very good comparison with the salesmanship. Almost everyone can learn to swim we ll if given good instruction and proper tuition. However, not everyone is predis posed to be the next Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps. Genetically wired for swimmin g greatness, these two outstanding performers are shining examples of talent and ambition meeting opportunity combined with excellent tuition and coaching. Alth ough many swimmers are not blessed with the swimming genes of Ian and Michael, i f they are determined to succeed and given the opportunity to receive excellent tuition and coaching they can draw upon their desire for accomplishment and achi eve a standard of excellence in their chosen sport as well. This swimming analogy is akin to the state of the selling profession. Most peopl e are not trained in how to sell in a competent and skillful manner. Instead, tr aining sales people in most companies has become the equivalent of throwing them in the deep end and expecting them to sink or swim, or in this case, sell. The reason why the question are salespeople born or made? persists and people keep cla iming they are born instead of made is because the good ones, like everyone else , were often thrown in the deep yet, unlike their floundering or drowning collea gues, they managed to work out how to sell well, intuitively. No question about it: Sales is a hot career these days, with lots of big compani es eager to hire top salespeople, even if they have to raid competitors to do it . But the salesperson s role has changed radically in recent years. Glad-handing and golfing are (for the most part) out; analytical thinking and creative probl em-solving are in. Instead businesses often rely on the sales superstars (those born to sell) to ca rry the load of their sales performance with no way of transferring or teaching their knowledge to others which is a high risk maneuver into todays complex world . For many years people have been searching for that one magic quality, the one key ingredient that distinguishes swimming has changed significantly over the ye ars and with it comes improved performance. So it is with selling. Selling has fundamentally changed from being product centric to client centric a lthough I would argue that good salespeople have always been client centric whic h is why they are effective. Over the last 50 years, we can see a distinct shift occurring from the aggressive, one sided, product flogging, sales monologue (th e equivalent to swimming with one arm only) to where selling must now be balance d with the ability to proactively find opportunity and the ability to genuinely listen and respond to the subtleties of more complex relationships which involve s patience, nurturing, and dealing with ambiguity. Think of the types of convers ations you now need to have with your prospective customers where listening, que stioning, resolving problems, collaboration, empathy and understanding are encou raged. And technology such as social media has fundamentally changed the way we network, connect, prospect and buy. The goal posts are shifting which means our definition of good selling is shifting too. Fortunately there are a number of studies from here and overseas that reve al some interesting findings into elite sales performance. They are shining the

light on the competencies and models we can learn from. The secret of sales succ ess is no longer a secret. 1.1 Seven Emerging competencies in sales A research by Rosenbaum (2001) shows the Seven Emerging Competencies revealed nine sales competencies: seven emerging and two traditional. While traditional sales competencies such as basic selling skills and account management are required, they do not differentiate top sales performers from poor or average sales perfor mers. The findings cut across all industries, contradicting the assumption that successful sales practices vary among different industries. The highest performi ng salespeople develop and use the seven emerging competencies despite the fact they may not have been modeled by their managers and many managers still do not fully recognize these competencies. So they are still not being taught and devel oped in all salespeople. The research found that successful salespeople are not constrained by traditiona l practices, but work instead in ways they have found best. They practiced and a pplied the following seven emerging competencies: Engaging in self-appraisal and continuous learning Listening beyond product needs Orchestrating internal resources Aligning customer/supplier strategic objectives Establishing a vision of a committed customer/supplier relationship Understanding the financial impacts of decisions Consultative problem solving. The most interesting finding was that gender differences in sales competencies w ere found, with women rated significantly higher than men on five of the emergin g competencies. Rosenbaum, the author, suggests this is reason to have a gender balanced sales team. Highly successful people are usually self-motivated and driven to succeed despit e the prevailing conditions which is likely part of their nature, however we can not rely on those few rare creatures for our business success, we need to and ca n train up more people to perform to standards which give us the momentum and al low us to prosper in these complex times. Good salespeople are both born and mad e. Remember everybody lives by selling something. Customer and competitive knowledge and can even improve their sales skills; we c annot teach sales people empathy, confidence, persistence, drive and enthusiasm or the ability to accept rejection. As a sales management professional, how can we use this realization to improve sales force performance? The most important task of any sales manager is recruitment. No matter how good you are at training, motivation, leadership, forecasting and performance managem ent all that applied to mediocre sales people, only produces mediocre results. T he cost of hiring and retaining a mediocre sales person or replacing this sales person exceeds one years compensation for that person. This includes the out of p ocket and overhead expenses of hiring, training and direct compensation plus los t opportunity costs with customers. Mayer & Greenberg (2006), wrote an article and published data on the relationshi p between a sales person s success and his/her ability to not only empathize wi th customers but also overcome a customers hesitation to buy. The latter relates to ego drive and overcoming the fear of rejection along with proper use of sales skills. If we assume there is a relationship, what recruitment tools can we use to predict a sales person s customer empathy, ego drive and comfort with reject ion. A sales person s job is not to sell products or services, but to satisfy persona l and corporate needs of customers. To do that a sales person must use probing q uestions to discover those needs, but also show understanding and empathy toward those needs. Without empathy you cannot do partnership or consultative selling. The best sales people are flexible in their approach to customers. This type of empathy creates warmth with customers. We buy from experts and friends. He or s he understands and cares about me and my company. The right interviewing techniq ues, reference checking and testing can measure empathy and ego drive. Herbert M Greenberg, one the authors of the HBR article is President and CEO of Caliper M

anagement, a Princeton, NJ human resource testing firm. The second characteristic the HBR article mentions is the successful sales perso n s ability to overcome a customers hesitation to buy. We might say such a sales person has a high need to achieve, a need to conquer, a lot of drive or ego. Suc h sales people want to make a sale, want to beat last year s figures not just fo r the compensation, but because of their need to excel. Continual improvement an d the ability to persuade are important to their self-image. The ability to over come objections and not to fear rejection becomes important characteristics. The ability to properly blend empathy and drive can only be found in a small percen tage of sales people. When empathy becomes sympathy the drive to close diminishe s. Again through proper sourcing, interviewing, reference checking and testing, you can accurately predict ego drive and the need to achieve. Think about sales people you have made major purchases from. You felt comfortable with them; you t rusted them because of their empathy. They asked you the right probing questions and showed interest in you or your firm. They told you about features and benef its, but never lost focus on moving the sales process to the next step. When recruiting sales people or evaluating your present sales force, how can you determine who uses empathy in selling and who has a high need to achieve, ego d rive? Certainly past success in sales speaks to this issue. Has the sales person increased their results and compensation each year? Have they advanced in terms of territories or corporate employer? However, because of market dynamics or te rritory size or age, some people have not been given an equal opportunity to suc ceed. 1.3 Hiring salespersons Various aspects of the screening process, interviewing, reference checking and t esting also give us ample opportunity to measure empathy and ego drive. To start with, be sure that empathy and ego drive appear on your firm s sales person can didate profile under characteristics. In interviewing candidates challenge their ability to successfully sell your pro ducts/services. Question how their background qualifies them for a sales positio n at your firm. Simulate an actual sales situation by throwing some rejection at them. You might say "I admire your experience, but I am not sure how it qualifi es you for the sales position we are interviewing for". Then go into a strategic silence and see what happens. Measure the candidates ego drive and persistence b y their follow up to the interview. Ask them to call you next Tuesday at 9:45 to discuss the next step in the hiring process, but make yourself difficult to rea ch. See how many times he/she calls. On the second interview ask the candidate t o sell you his/her previous product/service and look for his/her ability to esta blish rapport and empathy, overcome objections, establish needs, present feature s and drive toward a close. In my view the any profession that one has chosen and that motivates, has passio n and combined with the right skills one can achieve great success. Some of the biggest business in Kenya have been founded and run by people who do not have an y university degrees but are motivated and enjoy what they do. Sales, without realizing it, one does every day, whether it is dressing up for a presentation, making a speech one is selling one best qualities and strength an d the list goes on. Therefore, to be a good sales person one needs to identify the core area of strength and interest because a person with excellent knowledg e in computer software will be little use and competence in selling household it ems like crockery. The question that arises now is, will training of the staff benefit in the growt h and development of the Sales Team? Yes, Sales training can make a sales team b etter and can improve the selling ability and conversion rate of average salespe ople and NO, it cannot by training alone create the kind of "sales star" who can consistently outperform everyone else. In practice there will always exist people who are bound to always excel, those who are average and some who are just plain lousy at what they do. Is there a scientific way of measuring sales and sales persons performance? There are various tools available in the market for various areas that can be measure d against. However, selling is an art. Each person is very much an artist when i

t comes to the way he or she thinks and lot is dependent on the attitude, person ality and emotional intelligence as all sales is how well you emotionally engage with your potential buyer. However, trainers use a variety of scientific measur ements to help improve individual performance. 1.4 Qualities to be a great sales person Some of the qualities to be a great sales person one must possess: a) Customer First Priority: one must put oneself in the shoes of the customer to be able to understand what it is the customer wants and then know what products fit the demand as selling is all about satisfying the customer demand. To quote Bob Hooey if you are not taking care of your customer your competitor will. b) Assertiveness: in order to sell one has to be able to be assertive without of fending or frustrating a customer. To quote Zig Zigler timid salesmen have skinn y kids c) Character: all excellent sales people are successful because the customers fe el and know they can trust the person to give those products that are good. Ethi cs is core to success. d) Competence: one must know what they are selling and are confident of the comp any and the products. The basic concept is not to over promise and under deliver . e) Open Minded: all successful sales people have to be open to new information a nd knowledge of the products, of their skills and feedback from the field and th e customers. Todays customer is well educated and has many options on what produc t to choose. f) Problem solver: once one has identified the issue of what the customer needs one then needs to get the customer to a more comfortable situation, show the cus tomer what the current situation is and what can be done to what the customer de sires and finally communicate a solution to the customer so that the customer ca n make a decision. To quote J.G. Holland The secret of mans success resides in his insight into the moods of people, and his tact in dealing with them. In conclusion great sales people are a combination of the right skills, attitude , passion and is an art. Those of us who manage sales people realize that althou gh we can teach sales people product and thus Great Salespeople Aren t Born -- T hey Work At It

REFERENCES Mayer D. and Greenberg H. M. (2006) How to survive -- and thrive -- in today s c ompetitive business climate. Harvard Business Review Sue Barrett is founder of Barrett, assisting businesses building high performing , profitable sales teams.www.barrett.com.auonline