While we all have all eight of these characteristics in us, some of us
have much more of some than we do of others. And it is the predominance of
certain characteristics in us which predicts how we behave on the job.
The research that we have done with people in competitive sales roles
over the past three decades has confirmed that there is a solid correlation
between sales success and strong Dominance, Drive and Independence.
But for those of you with a background in sales, you know that, as the
marketplace changes, customers buy differently, which in turn is reflected
in the way we sell. A client of ours, a Sales Vice President, recently
stated that the aggressive, hard-nosed tactics he had used when cutting his
teeth in sales twenty years ago just would not work in today's sophisticated
selling environment. There has been plenty written in the past decade about
"Consultative Selling", "Relationship Selling", "Conceptual Selling" and so
on. These books and articles focus on the salesperson's ability to
understand their customers’ businesses and position their product as one
that improves the customers bottom line.
So how might the profiles of salespeople of the present differ from those
of the more traditional salesperson - the one who knocks on a lot of doors
and knows that it takes one hundred "no's" to get one "yes".
Let's take a look at some typical sales profiles we see in the
marketplace and discuss how they do things differently. In the next few
pages we answer the questions:
What turns them on about selling? What are they like when they are at
their best and at their worst? What are they like around the office? What
advice can we offer to help them be more effective?
