We’ve all heard of someone described as a natural-born salesperson: that man or woman who seems to have an uncanny mix of empathy, conviction, improvisational skill, and cunning—that knack for relating to people, projecting confidence, possessing the ability to think on his or her feet, and strong judgement. They seem to always lead in the sales contests, always make the most commission, and always end up being the center of attention.
According to Adam Honig’s article on LinkedIn, 5 Signs That You’re a Natural Born Salesperson, these savants are naturally optimistic, unable to accept “no” for an answer, highly competitive, motivated by money, and perceptive of other people’s motivations. Resilient and self-motivated, these natural-born salespeople are the dream employee for many businesses, and the kind of people most of us wish we could be ourselves.
Nature or Nurture
The question becomes whether such people are born, as the term natural born suggests, or if they are made through experience. The subject of nature versus nurture is too big a topic for us to tackle in a blog post, but let us concede that some people are naturally outgoing—that is, fully at ease in social situations where they are front and center, giving product demonstrations and rolling with the natural ebbs and flows of the conversation. There are just some people who don’t get nervous or flustered when put on the spot. Ambition seems to come naturally for them, and they’re always able to come up with the right answers and close the deal.
But how many of those qualities are the products of talent instead of determination? Could practiced skills compete with natural ones? According to Shep Hyken’s article, Good Habits Are Just as Important as Talent and Skill, the answer is an emphatic yes. However, before worrying about skill, we should focus on the foundational qualities of having the right temperament.
The Right Stuff
Hyken cites how many business articles list things like “being coachable, smiling, saying please and thank you, being nice, doing what you say, etc.” These traits don’t even require skill, just a level of care. They “are about the right attitude. Does it take talent to have the right attitude? Not really, but it does take mindset and effort.” It also takes practice, which Hyken reminds us isn’t really about pursuing perfection but about turning these qualities into habits.
Once an employee is in the habit of providing great customer service, those enviable skills can and will develop as a consequence. After all, employees who have learned to care are going to be better at empathizing with customers, and better able to demonstrate their conviction about your business’s products and services. Improvisational skills will develop on their own, and the desire to offer the best customer experience possible will lead to the best sales: the right match for your customers with the appropriate add-ons and upsells to anticipate their needs.
Determination can make up the ground between the neophyte salesperson and the virtuoso. In fact, if you really dig deep into the backgrounds of these great salespeople, you’ll discover that many of them had to work very hard to get where they’re at today. Like Hyken says, it takes mindset and effort—it takes practice.
The Path to Success
Developing a process for training employees, and then measuring them again and again is critical for fostering the kind of environment that creates elite salespersonship. Perhaps the best method for doing this is mystery shopping, as it both allows your employees to practice their customer-service skills and also be tested to see how well they’re performing. There’s really no better training tool out there than experience, of course, and the best part of a mystery shop is that it looks like a real opportunity without any of the risk of failure.
Let’s explore what the means for your business. Drop us a line at The Brandt Group and let us know what your goals are, and together we can create a plan of action to ensure your salespeople are the envy of your competitors, generating both high customer satisfaction and enhanced profits. Let’s get them practicing!
