10 Character Traits of High-Influence Salespeople

Adapted from the blog by Perry Holley – Maxwell Leadership Coach

At Maxwell Leadership, we believe that leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have positive influence on your customers, your effectiveness as a salesperson and your development as a trusted salesperson will be diminished. Demonstrating integrity with your customers is a competitive advantage. Customers want to deal with salespeople they can trust.

So, what is influence, and how do you develop it as a salesperson?

The dictionary definition of influence is the capacity or power of a salesperson to be a compelling force on the actions, behavior, and opinions of others (including customers!). When you have influence, you can lead customers to powerful, positive change with your product solutions. If you want to grow your influence with customers and increase your effectiveness, you must be intentional with your actions and behaviors when having business discussions with your customers. So let’s explore what some key character traits of influential salespeople (leaders) really look like. Remember – all salespeople are leaders – we lead customers to win-win decisions to change for success.

According to Daniel Goleman, your EQ—your emotional intelligence and ability to persuade, influence, negotiate, communicate, and move customers to do (or not do) things—accounts for 85% of your  sales success. Your IQ is about your competence in your sales role and is the other 15%. Once you exhibit selling skill competence, you need to be able to move people through influence by displaying the traits below to achieve your potential as a trusted salesperson to lead powerful, positive change in customers and their organization.

10 CHARACTER TRAITS OF INFLUENTIAL SALESPEOPLE

5 minute read

Author and teacher Brian Tracy has written about the character traits found in high-influence leaders. Maxwell Leadership Coach Perry Holley has expanded on these traits and I have adapted his views for you, a B2B salesperson. Review each of these traits, think abut your last two or three sales meetings, and ask yourself these two questions:

Is this trait true about me when I sell to my customers?

What action(s) do I need to take to instil these traits to be a  more trusted salesperson?

Here are the 10 character traits that you must have to be a trusted B2B salesperson by your customers. Let’s review!

1. Goal-Oriented: Influential salespeople are goal-oriented. Customers are not positively influenced by salespeople who don’t know what they are trying to accomplish. Salespeople of influence decide precisely what they want to achieve by setting sales objectives before each sales meeting they are to attend. If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it! Says Zig Ziglar.

2. Full of Integrity: Integrity is probably the most essential quality for success in both your professional development and sales success. 85% of success in life is based on our relationships, and our sales relationships should be based on trust. If customer trust is not there, the relationship is not there, the sale is not there. Integrity is everything.

3. Optimistic: Researchers found that one common quality of influential and successful salespeople was extreme optimism. Your attitude, positive or negative, is evident to others even before you open your mouth. No one is positively influenced by someone with a bad attitude. Salespeople are practical optimists who employ their experience, solution knowledge with the attitude to positively solve customer problems.

4. Sincere: Influential salespeople always tell the truth, but they are also polite and respectful. People are positively influenced by authenticity and communication with no pretense of selfishness. Sincere salespeople exhibit genuine warmth and trust to solve problems, not push to achieve their sales targets.

5. Well-Informed: Influential people know what’s going on overall and in their specific professions or areas of expertise. Customers will not be positively influenced by a salesperson who appears ignorant about customer current conditions, product knowledge and what is happening around them.

6. Well-Prepared: The most successful salespeople in every field are thoroughly prepared. You will erode a lot of influence if you appear unprepared in front of others. Use a Sales Meeting Planner to prepare for your sales meeting. This should include questioning strategies that uncover customer needs that your product benefits can meet. 

7. Loves People: Love in this sense is intended as an action. Some sales behaviors of love that develop influence are patience, kindness, humility, and selflessness. Brian Tracy suggests that one way to demonstrate love to others is to listen, listen, and listen until they stop talking. Salespeople that care listen 70% of the time and talk 30%!

8. Communicates Effectively: Whether one-on-one, in a group meeting, or addressing the entire company, your influence is highly affected by how you communicate with your customer. Communicate with your mind and your heart. Be clear and concise.

9. Well-Mannered. Being well-mannered opens doors for you. Being well-mannered exhibits an others-orientation. You make others feel valued by how you treat them. Well-mannered means being cross culturally sensitive so you may respectfully interact and communicate with customers who are different than you.

10. Displays Perseverance. In the face of difficulty, perseverance and persistence are essential qualities for B2B success. Longer sales cycles, larger buying committees, external market forces are characteristics of a B2B sales life. You will have problems, setbacks and uncertainty as a B2B salesperson—the only question is how will you respond to them?

These ten integrity traits of a salesperson are the foundation for your success as a B2B salesperson and for long term customer relationships. Review your last two or three sales meetings and score yourself on each of these integrity traits. Which traits do you consistently demonstrate and which ones do you need to develop to make you a more trusted salesperson. May you always be a salesperson of impeccable integrity!

Thank you Perry Holley for stimulating me to spread your adapted blog to salespeople across Asia!

Michael J Griffin
CEO ELAvate
Maxwell Leadership Founding Member
Global Sales Productivity Coach