Which came first, the salesperson or the egg? This is the enigma (or should I say the eneggma) of the evolution of the right salesperson. The mystery of finding, interviewing, hiring, growing, and retaining great sales people is critical to your success. Where do they come from?

Companies often approach me to “ELAvate” the negotiating skills of their sales people. These are companies that have a sales team in place, done the basic selling skills training a few months or a year or two ago, but they still find their sales productivity lagging behind expectations. A cursory investigation by their sales managers leads them to the conclusion that their sales people are losing sales towards the end of the sales cycle and, therefore, sales negotiating skills are weak.

At Maxwell Leadership, we believe that leadership is influence—nothing more, nothing less. If you don’t have a 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.

Surveys consistently show that salespeople are not trusted. A HubSpot survey found that only 3% of respondents trust salespeople. A Salesforce survey found 79% of B2B buyers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is a trusted advisor. Gartner tells us that B2B customers are only spending 17% of their buying time talking with salespeople. Your ability to “earn the right” to conduct an open sales–buying conversation translates into your ability to build trust with customers – quickly.