Personality and Selling
How does the fit between the personality of a salesperson and the sales work environment affect the bottom line? We can offer the following insights from our experience.
Behavioral Style Preferences – First of all, if the natural behaviors of the salesperson’s style are not conducive to selling your product, for your company and to your clientele, he/she would have to change and adapt on a daily basis. A salesperson that has to become “somebody they aren’t” in order to successfully sell will not thrive. It’s draining and stressful and usually a short-lived position.
Motivational Needs and Values – If what is important to someone in terms of values isn’t being addressed at the job, then motivation will certainly be lacking. Values are the relative priority of categories (such as the economic, theoretical, regulatory, aesthetic), expressed through concrete situations such as the work environment, compensation & benefits, and so on. In sales, a lack of motivation is disastrous. Certain values also affect selling situations: Salespeople with a high “Social” value cannot enthusiastically sell a product unless they believe it will genuinely help benefit their customer. Those with a high “Theoretical” value have a substantial advantage selling more complicated products and applications – they thrive on constantly learning more and applying the true solution (a negative factor if they’re selling boring widgets).
Sales Skills and Knowledge – If a salesperson lacks knowledge of certain parts of the selling process, whether through lack of experience or poor strategies learned, they will loose sales and waste time. However, they only need to learn corrective action once (hopefully). This is the easiest “weakness” to correct, especially if the individual enjoys the behaviors you desire and is motivated.
TTI Personal Talent Skills Inventory- Focus and Awareness – Often there are things going on in the salesperson’s life that temporarily interfere with productivity. He or she may not be focused or see things clearly (whether externally or internally). A lack in specific attribute areas necessary for success in the position will create barriers to goal of top performance. These are not addressed in assessment tools that measure only behavioral or motivational insights. We have on-line instruments that identify each of the areas separately, for identification and developmental purposes.
Call us for a complimentary consultation on your current hiring, development or retention needs at 404-814-0739.
Sphere: Related Content