What do I think is the DNA that makes a great salesperson?
I work very closely with an international sales assessment company based in the US and Canada.
They have measured literally hundreds of thousands of salespeople who work in the salary, and commission environment.
These people are in real estate, insurance, media, and such like.
I have personally used them for my salespeople and for my clients.
Any good salesperson can measure up well in their interview if they are worth their salt.
The challenge is to really know what makes up that person’s DNA when it comes to sales.
Here is what this assessment company believes makes up the DNA of a successful salesperson.
Performance = Talent x Habits x Opportunity.
These are considered the keys to performance when it comes to sales.
Let me explain each one with a tip or two thrown in.
Talent – Can this person actually do the job? Look at skills, education, and credentials. These should always be able to provide some insight into the applicant’s ability.
Habits – Will this applicant really work hard to realise their potential?
I have seen this time and time again where a potential salesperson has all the talent in the world, but if they are not willing to work hard enough to realise that and use that potential there is no way they are going to succeed in sales.
Check habit and work history. While any assessments are excellent and in my opinion are a must, don’t use them in isolation.
It’s important to weigh up the whole process.
Opportunity – This is the third and final trait or DNA that makes up a great salesperson.
Is this person in front of you, a good fit for your organisation?
Again I have been presented with a great salesperson but I know that while they might have all the habits and talent I have to ask the question.
“Do they fit my culture?“
Fitting into a culture helps them transition better, they feel part of the team.
This is often overlooked, and many companies have ended up with an unhappy salesperson and unhappy team.
As per my video.
If you would like a copy of this information, along with what I consider key character traits, that every salesperson should have.
Then feel free to direct message me on LinkedIn and I will send you a copy.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
What it means to the long term survival of your business?
I was visited recently by a friend who, can I say, is well into her 80s.
Knowing your customer
Once she and I had caught up on all the family news, she started to complain about her local hairdresser. She had not had a great experience recently.
Each week she goes to her hairdresser and gets her hair tended to and has the usual cut and blow wave.
She received some vouchers in the mail from this hairdresser with the offer of a discount for her next visit.
It appears that this might have been a generic promotion that was sent out to this entire business’ database.
As it was scheduled to be used by a certain time, my friend perhaps being a little absent-minded decided on her last visit to this hairdresser to produce these vouchers and ask for a discount on her just-completed visit.
Sorry that voucher has expired
Once the daughter of the owner looked at these vouchers, she explained that they had expired and sorry but the discount no longer applied (a week over).
Well, you can imagine what the reaction was… not good, and as a result, the relationship has now ended even after a couple of phone calls between the two parties.
Value
After some questioning with my friend, we discovered some interesting maths.
She had being going to that to the hairdresser for over 30 years, once a week with an average price of $30.
Give or take a few weeks away here and there, and other activities, I calculated 48 weeks a year for 30 years. This is the math.
Annually – 48 x $30 = $1440.
If you calculate that over 30 years that’s $43,200.
The lifetime value of that client was a whopping $43,200.
The hairdresser had lost a lifetime client over $3.00. (The voucher was for 10% off the visit.)
It makes you think. It might sound a little trivial to fight over $3.00, but sometimes that is all it takes.
It can be argued that it was really a silly reaction on both parties and in the end it could have been resolved.
However these are the little things that can trip many of us up.
Do you know what your lifetime value of your client is?
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
One of the biggest mistakes a salesperson can make is to think that a client only buys on price.
Last week I talked about one of the biggest mistakes a salesperson can make – to think that a client only buys on price and that they are always selling to the Price Buyer.
I went onto say that there were – in my opinion – four types of buyers:
1. Price Buyer
2. Value Buyer
3. Relationship Buyer
4. Relationship/Value Buyer
In this week’s blog I want to offer some ways around overcoming that perception of a Price Buyer by offering the following in your proposals:
1. Offer more options in your proposals
By giving options you can add in some value and other ideas to stimulate the sales.
2. Try to create value.
Add in something that has a perceived value that you may give to a client as part of your service.
3. Offer levels of value
This option is similar to #1. You do this by stacking value. You see this with a lot of software as a service (SAS) product
4. Offer premiums
Like gifts with purchase, or other promotions. Estee Lauder the cosmetic company, drives much of its revenue by gift with purchase. McDonald’s is a classic example.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
One of the biggest mistakes a salesperson can make is to think that a client only buys on price.
4 Types of Buyers
Recognise that there are four types of Buyers:
1. Price Buyer
2. Value Buyer
3. Relationship Buyer
4. Relationship/Value Buyer
One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is to focus their efforts on price.
They think they are always selling to the Price Buyer.
Salespeople do this for many reasons.
Usually they do not have any sort of relationship with the client, have not positioned their product or service as unique, and do not offer additional options.
One of my client’s salespeople, for instance, identified a customer she thought bought on price, and made an appointment.
She presented a discounted option with lots of flexibility.
It seemed like a fair deal to her.
The buyer immediately recognised that this was a price sell, so he proceeded to negotiate an even better bargain for himself.
The salesperson returned to her company complaining that the customer had been unreasonable by pushing her for a better deal.
My reaction was, “Good on them.” The salesperson had positioned the price before the story.
Ask questions that open up a relationship
If she had spent time asking questions and getting to know the client, she might have actually triggered something else in the buyer’s mind.
She assumed that this client was a Price Buyer, when perhaps he was not.
Open up the sales space
By telling a story, getting excited about the opportunity to work together, it allows what I call a “sales space” to grow.
A sales space is where people make decisions about the person who is selling them something.
That space includes discovery questions asked by the salesperson, and gives both parties the chance to get to know each other.
The Buyer might think to herself, “I actually am warming up to this person. There is more substance there than I thought, and they are not trying to sell me straight off. Could I work with this person? Are they real and genuine? Do they give me confidence?”
Value is what your client wants
I believe that value is truly what your clients want you to bring to the table; the salesperson or businessperson must understand what the Buyer values.
Next week I talk about six ways you can add to your proposals to get your clients away from price and into value.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
I think we would all agree that we’d be better at selling our product or service if we were qualifying our clients better.
It’s very frustrating for owners and sales managers, when their salespeople do not qualify correctly.
Don’t make this mistake.
If a call is going well, you’ve done your work correctly and solved a problem for a client, for them to then say that they need to take it to someone else, is heartbreaking.
I’ve run large sales teams, carried out thousands of sales calls both face to face, and on the phone, and have made this mistake.
That’s because maybe, just maybe, you’ve not asked these questions.
Ask powerful questions
Here are three questions that you might find useful.
You have to get the right answer from question #1 first, as this often determines the next two.
1) “What role do you play in helping your decision maker make the decision?
The answer will determine if the person can help you secure the business. If you feel that “hey this dude I am looking at here is not going to help me” then stop and start again.
2) “How does the decision process work in your company?”
Ask them to take you through the decision-making process.
It gets better conversions.
For example; if your lead channel or pipeline is full of potential clients and the conversion rate is low, then those questions might need to be asked a lot more.
If you do not have enough leads, you have a marketing problem. If you have too many leads and they are not converting, you have a sales problem.
3) “Is there anything you can think of that might stand in the way of us doing business in the next few weeks. Do you like the proposal, and what specifically do you see that you like?
You have to be satisfied with this answer, it’s an attempt to see how serious they are when it comes to making a decision.
We used to call it a ‘trial close’, (they are still around) and all you were doing is making sure you did not get the run-around.
While some sales journeys do take a little longer, it’s important to qualify, qualify, qualify.
I can assure you that asking these questions will get you more sales, and ultimately that is what we are after, that’s what we are in the business of.
Have a great week.
Whatever career you decide to take in sales, it’s always good to get some help.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. He has hired hundreds of salespeople around the world.
He made a lot of mistakes when it came to hiring his superstars. Check out his How to Hire A Super Salesperson Each and Every time – It’s packed with tips and ideas on how to hire great salespeople. Don’t ever Hire Bad Salespeople Ever Again. Promise!
