Over the past decade, I had the privilege of interviewing thousands of top business-to-business salespeople who sell for some of the world’s leading companies.
I also administered personality tests to 1,000 of them. My goal was to measure the personality traits that separated them from their peers.
The personality tests were given to technology and business services salespeople at strategy workshops I conducted. Further tests were also administered at Presidents Club meetings – events attended by a firm’s best salespeople. The responses were then categorized by the percentage of annual quota attainment and classified into categories for top, average and below-average performers.
The test results from top performers were then compared against average and below-average performers. Here are some of the key personality traits that directly influenced the success and selling style of top performers:
•Modesty. Contrary to stereotypes, 91 percent of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility.
•Selling Style Impact: Team Orientation. Instead of establishing themselves as the focal point of the purchase decision, top salespeople position the team that will help them win the account as the centerpiece.
•Conscientiousness. Eighty-five percent of top salespeople had high levels of conscientiousness and a strong sense of duty.
•Selling Style Impact: Account Control. The worst thing a salesman can do is relinquish control of his account. Top salespeople take command of the sales cycle process and control their own destiny.
•Lack of Gregariousness. One of the most surprising differences between top salespeople and those ranking in the bottom one-third of performance is their level of gregariousness, or desire for social contact. Overall, the average gregariousness scores of top performers were 30 percent lower than those of below average performers.
•Selling Style Impact: Dominance. Dominance is the ability to ensure that your recommendations are followed by gaining the willing obedience of your customers. Overly friendly salespeople, it seems, get too close to their customers and have difficulty establishing dominance.
Given the same sales tools, education levels and propensity to work, why do some salespeople succeed where others fail? The evidence suggests that the personalities of truly great salespeople play a critical role in their success.
(Steve W. Martin teaches sales strategy at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. His latest book on sales linguistics is “Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology:
How to Penetrate the C-level Executive Suite and Convince Company Leaders to Buy.”)
