What do you believe makes a really effective salesperson? On a continuum, is it someone with deep product knowledge at one end or someone with the gift of the gab who could sell ice to Eskimos at the other.
I’m Rashid Kotwal. Welcome to Business Insights.
Take the person with deep product knowledge and expertise, but with a lousy bedside manner. Lots of doctors come to mind. You need them, but don’t like them and only buy because you’re forced to.
Or someone with the gift of the gab. Sure they can sell – but wanting to close the deal and please the client, you might find they’ll sell something that can’t be delivered easily, causing all sorts of problems and unhappy customers down the track.
So on the continuum of deep knowledge and gift of the gab, you want someone in the middle. They have some product knowledge and requisite people skills.
But far more importantly, they’re motivated to get out, find prospects and sell.
A colleague put it very eloquently. Having run his business for over two decades, his best salespeople have been single women with a couple of kids who needed to make money. Second in line were married men with kids, a wife at home and a mortgage.
I know that probably doesn’t sound politically correct, but the reality is highly motivated people will get out and find solutions.
They’ll ask for help and training. Provide it and get out of the way!
