10 Characteristics of Top Achieving Sales people

It takes little effort to spot top achieving sales people. Observers see them using helpful tools that track sales and contacts. A variety of different characteristics set them apart from average colleagues and peers with uninspired performance.

Following are ten characteristics displayed by top achieving sales people.

1. Top achievers ask high-value questions.

Effective sales people ask carefully phrased questions that help them learn more about buying habits and situations of their customers. Experience has taught them how useful the information is when deciding the best way to present their service or product. Identifying customer goals, concerns, and objectives paves the way for self-starters to show what is being offered and why it affects each customer in a positive way. Discerning questions overcome hesitation from prospects by causing them to analyze what’s being offered.

2. Top achieving sales people display an enormous amount of passion.

Sales people with impressive sales reports radiate pride in the services and products they sell as well as the company they represent. Conveying the reason for their passion is an exceptional way to show prospects how strongly they believe in their product, resulting in more sales and word-of-mouth referrals. Your career takes off and continues to grow because of your enthusiasm and high-performance work ethic. The extra effort put into your job because of your passion is evident in conversations and all your dealings with others.

3. Setting big goals is a mark of leading achievers.

Top achieving sales people are proactive. Instead of waiting for the boss to designate quotas or hand down sales goals, they create impressive, challenging goals to pursue. Specific, motivational goals lead to success. They evaluate their objectives to confirm their relevance to their personal situation and determine how much time it will take to achieve each goal. Daily pursuit of goal achievement is enhanced by picturing targets and following predetermined steps for success.

4. Successful sales people are great listeners.

It’s a hard lesson to learn for many people, but telling isn’t the same as selling. How do successful sellers learn what they need to know by minimizing their own speech and encouraging targets to talk? Golden silence on their part is the answer. Instead of speaking about the attributes of service or products from their company, they give the customer plenty of opportunity to voice their opinions, concerns, and thoughts. That gives the top performers time to prepare a brief response that satisfies the other person’s curiosity.

5. Hard workers are leading achievers.

Top achieving sales people are aggressive about seeking additional business and making the time to pursue it. They demonstrate methods like beginning the work day earlier and ending it later than colleagues. Ordinary chit-chat just for the sake of social exchange is kept to a minimum. The extra time is used for additional prospecting, and calls. As a result, they deliver more sales presentations and speak with more people than their ambivalent coworkers.

6. Successful sales leaders hold themselves accountable for results.

You won’t find top achieving sales people passing the buck for less than stellar success. They recognize what must be done to realize their goals and gauge their actions accordingly. While others blame the economy or challenging competition when quotas aren’t met, successful salespeople change their plans and activities in order to meet or beat their objectives.

7. Persistence makes it happen.

What is your reaction when obstacles repeatedly lie ahead? It happens to many people. The level of success reached by individuals is determined by their response to the barriers. Top ambitious sales people in any industry address obstacles as soon as they appear. They steadfastly search for workable solutions and reject the notion of quitting.

8. Develop customers by demonstrating the value of your service or product.

Presenting the value proposition in a decisive, well-organized manner educates the buyer on the benefits of using the product or service in question. Top achieving sales people know it’s more than cost that influences a sale and display other reasons why the item is worth the price.

9. Succeed with enthusiastic, positive posture.

Regardless of the circumstances, the select top sales people display a positive attitude. It results in bolstering the other person’s mood, as well. Successful sales people are advocates for their company or business, focusing on positive components rather than tearing down negative situations. Existing and potential clients are more likely to trust someone who is believes in the good of their product.

10. Maintain client contact to earn recognition as one of the top achieving sales people.

Energetic achievers recognize other sales persons strive to steal their customers every day. Making time to keep in touch with clients and potential customers helps keep quotas filled. Simple gestures like a call to inform the person of a good sale or sending a card for a special occasion confirms the client’s value. Instead of relying on memory to keep track of when to communicate, look into sales tools and their ability to keep you organized, like Salesforce vs Insightly.

Chances are you want to be more than an average sales person. You can do it using the above techniques that maximize discipline, effort, and energy. The income and benefits top performing sales people earn can be yours by striving to be better than average.

Gregg Swanson is a sales performance consultant and business coach and has authored several books and numerous articles on peak performance and creator of “Sales Strong.” Gregg specializes helping sales professionals develop mental strength for optimum sales performance. You can pick-up your complementary report, “The Most Critical Step in Sales” by going HERE.