Top 5 Traits of an Outstanding Salesperson

Ask any top sales leadership coach or sales coaching coach and they’ll tell you, there are five essential traits that all sales professionals must have if they are to effective and successful. Let’s dive right in:

1) Personability: According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, being personable means you are pleasant and likeable. That being the case, it is worth noting you won’t get anywhere is sales if you can’t strike up a conversation with another human being and gain their initial trust with a positive first impression. Whether it be in person, on the phone or on Zoom, the person who can grab attention, maintain a conversation, and make the other person feel like they are the focus of all your attention is a real salesperson. Your customer wants to know that they matter to someone else and if you are a smart and personable salesperson, they will be more likely to believe that person is you.

2) Skilled Communicator: You might only have two minutes to pitch your product or service to a potential customer so it is critical you have the ability to communicate your message clearly and concisely. Are you going to blow the sale rambling on about something that may or may not matter? As any outstanding salesperson or online sales trainer knows, if you can’t communicate clearly, chances are you’ve already lost your sale.

3) Honesty: Being able to communicate and being personable will never help you if you can’t keep your word and be trusted. If a customer comes to you with a complaint, they should feel reassured that you will handle the problem and that they can count on you to get the job done. Additionally, if you are selling a product or a service, you need to be able to sincerely stand behind that product or service. If you can’t, your ability to sell will suffer tremendously.

4) Persuasiveness: Great salespeople must be convincing. You must be able to show your customer why your product or service is superior to other products or services. Or, you have to show that your product or service is going to help them in some way and that they should not live without it. This motivates your customers to not only buy from you in the short-term, but to keep buying from you on an ongoing basis.

5) Knowledgeable and Informative: There should never be a question about your product or service that you don’t know the answer to. Think your job ends when your customer makes a purchase? Think again. As any virtual sales trainer worth their salt will tell you, you are now in a relationship with your customer and if they want to know where the part No. 11,342,051 was made, then you need to know exactly where that part was made and preferably the name of the worker who made it. Of course, this is an extreme example, but you’d be surprised to learn just how often outstanding salespeople know this level of detail.

Bottom line is being a likeable, slick talker will only get you so far. Eventually, your prospect or customer is going to want to know you have the honesty, integrity, and professionalism necessary to be an integral, successful and long-term partner for their company.