Most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally.

If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all. Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally.

Not all salespeople are successful. Given the same sales tools, level of education, and propensity to work, why do some salespeople succeed where others fail? Is one better suited to sell the product because of his or her background? Is one more charming or just luckier? The evidence suggests that the personalities of these truly great salespeople play a critical role in determining their success.

Interesting Sales Research on Top Sellers:

Steve W. Martin, author of Sales Psychology did research with 1000 salespeople across some world’s leading companies.

? 91% of top sellers had medium to high scores of modesty and humility.??

Great salespeople don’t allow ego to come their way. They don’t celebrate wins too much and at the same time, they don’t get upset over a loss. They value any support they get from their seniors or any other means.

? 85% of top sellers were highly conscientious.??

Great salespeople research a lot. They know their prospects/customers really well. They don’t leave anything to chance and help customers make the right business decision. They keep things moving and hence the chance of closure of every call/meeting.

? 82% of top sellers scored extremely high curiosity levels.??

Great salespeople are extremely curious. They have a deep hunger for knowledge, information and subsequently growth. They question value propositions internally to get totally convinced before they ask the right questions to the customers.

? Top sellers were 30% less sociable than average sellers.

It’s a myth that being super friendly helps in sales. In one way person on the other side is doing a transaction, if this would be true then personal deep relationships would do wonders. In fact, it becomes hard to move the status quo. It does help in revenue expansion for the customer.

? 84% of top sellers scored very high in achievement orientation.?

Not just high—very high. Great salespeople create success. They have an Always Be Closing attitude. Most of them dream big and aim at handling big teams sooner. History also says all great CEOs were once a salesperson.

? 90% of Great salespeople were categorized as Strong headed individuals.

In sales, it's impossible to be in one zone all the time. Sales success is like sports. There is a correlation between the two. Just like sports, in sales success, great salespeople handle emotional disappointments really well. They mentally prepare themselves for the next opportunity to compete

? Less than 5% of the performers had a high level of self-consciousness.

Self-consciousness is the measurement of how easily someone is embarrassed. Avoid Being Labelled “Too Salesy” by being Self-Aware. Top salespeople are comfortable fighting for their cause and are not afraid of rankling customers in the process. They are action-oriented and unafraid to call high in their accounts or courageously cold call new prospects.

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