The Attitudes of a Successful B2B Salesperson – Chally Research
By Michael J Griffin
7 minute read
The advent of hybrid selling has led to many blogs and articles on the supposedly new skills of a B2B salesperson in the post Covid marketplace. Let’s review the attitudes or attributes of successful B2B salespeople in this new era.
B2B selling skills really do still make a difference when buttressed by the key attitudes found in this blog. My advice: Hire and promote people for these B2B selling attitudes and train them in B2B selling skills.
Through testing over 100,000 salespeople across 200 sales forces, Chally Group has identified the 16 attitudes which repeatedly prove important for successful B2B salespeople.
Persistent drive for productivity.
Probably the most clearly understood and agreed upon successful sales attitude involves the time, effort, and persistence put into getting results. The drive to be productive is so strong that many successful salespeople are uncomfortable with nothing to do for extended periods of time.
High energy level.
The drive for productivity is significant, but without a sustained energy level, the drive will never be satisfied. Energy is fuel to make contacts, to give long and frequent sales presentations, to travel and continually meet new people. In fact, energy is so important. It could be called the key to success.
Believability and spontaneity.
To sell a customer on a product, the salesperson has to be believable. If salespeople cannot convey a belief that their products are best, the customer will probably go with someone in whom he/she can believe in. Salespeople are more believable if they are spontaneous. In the sales interaction, spontaneity manifests itself in the ability to think “on one’s feet”, to field impromptu or unanticipated questions with ease. The salesperson who can react candidly and directly creates the impression of credibility.
Assertiveness.
Chally states the differences between passiveness, aggressiveness, and assertiveness are more than a problem in semantics. Passiveness is an unwillingness to confront a customer or to bring out the fallacies and good points in a customer’s decision, to overcome objections, and to pursue the customer to close of the sale. Aggressiveness may be defined as a need to dominate the sales situation. Today’s sophisticated customers are offended by this approach, and potential sales are lost. The ability to be flexible and to back off when necessary, yet still be assertive, is vital. Successful salespeople can speak up with respect to build trusting relationships.
Emotional intelligence & independence.
A successful salesperson is not dependent upon others for feelings of self-worth. Emotional intelligence is essential to read and connect to different customer styles and emotions. Salespeople who are “humbly secure” in themselves are emotionally independent and can take the heat or pressure from less than polite customers.
Self-directed leadership and personal control.
Chally has found that good B2B salespeople prefer to see themselves as individuals. They want control over their own lives. To this end, they exhibit self-leadership and personal control. They have the potential to motivate themselves, to plan and direct their own activities. Self-leadership is the tangible side of emotional independence. The ability to take care of themselves and meet their own needs is fundamental to independent work in sales.
Teachable but self-assured.
A salesperson does not, and cannot, take much time in “search of self”. It is more beneficial to be confident that being teachable will produce results. They are open to constructive feedback and learning new things; instead they will concentrate their energies on improving themselves and solutions for their customers.
Practical optimism.
Salespeople make a career out of engaging in positive, self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, they tend to see themselves performing activities which will pay off. Consequently, the rewards are forthcoming. Chally research clearly shows that people who believe they’re going to close a sale have almost twice the sales volume of those who have doubts. They are also aware when to walk away from a customer who won’t buy and go spend time on customers who will.
Socially outgoing.
The attributes of social outgoingness are primary to sales. Salespeople have to be capable of relaxed interchange with people. They must have the ability to initiate contact and introduce themselves to others. Only the person who is socially outgoing can take the first step toward closing the sale.
Desire to meet and interact with new people.
Salespeople must have a genuine desire to meet new people and be sincerely interested in them and their needs. Merely tolerating people different than themselves can be sensed by most clients and leads to lost sales.
Willingness to persuade.
Sales is persuasion. A hesitancy or resistance to persuading others prevents closes. The salesperson who has not earned the right for the attention of the customer cannot move in to close the sale.
The need to succeed.
Dynamic salespeople are highly motivated by the need to succeed. This drive gives them the ambition to overcome all kinds of barriers on the way to success. To a salesperson with a high need for success, these barriers represent a challenge, things to overcome, conquer, or beat.
Sales sense.
There is no substitute for experience. Prove, time-tested salespeople usually succeed in any company, as long as they still have the motivation and the drive to succeed. Part of their success is in their ability to know intuitively how to skillfully work toward the closing of a sale.
Persistence and goal determination.
The B2b salesperson has to persevere with difficult clients, long sales cycles, and persuading to multiple decision makers. He/she must be persistent and goal-oriented. The persistent salesperson is always aiming to close the sale and is unswerving in attempts to do so. Being easily distracted impedes the ability to close the sale and giving up readily is fatal.
Tendency to admit limitations.
Successful salespeople are candid in self-evaluation and disclosure. They do not put themselves in an unreasonably favorable light, but they do maximize the effectiveness of inherent strengths. They know, however, that too much exaggeration or any dishonesty will eventually catch up with them.
Tendency to accept limitations.
The successful salesperson is a positive thinker. He or she does not deal with negative emotions more than absolutely necessary. However, good salespeople are capable of seeing their own limitations, and they avoid getting in “over their heads” in the setting of personal goals or making unrealistic promises to customers. They are realistic in their ambitions and promises, although they constantly push their creativity.
Hire with most of these attitudes and your organization will easily meet and exceed sales revenue targets. As a next step, formulate good interview questions that explore your sales candidate attitudes and ask them to offer situations or examples that prove they have a positive approach to selling.
ELAvate has an effective “Focused Sales Interviewing” workshop if you and your sales managers require support in doing this. Email me to discuss!
michael.griffin@elavateglobal.com
Michael J Griffin
Founder and CEO ELAvate
Sales Productivity Consultant
ENDURANCE
Demonstrates a high level of activity; sustains effort over a period of time; works efficiently without wasting time or effort
COMMITS TIME AND EFFORT TO ENSURE SUCCESS
Sets job as a first priority; commits the time needed to meet objectives but does not simply clock hours; self-developmental; prepares approach to ensure success