Top Traits Great Salespeople Share

When it comes to selling a product or service, how you go about the process counts. Great salespeople who climb the ranks in sales figures often share certain traits that make them excellent at what they do – selling. However, these are skills that only some possess naturally. Learning from successful salespeople can help you understand what traits and skills you should work on. This can help you gain sales success more often and ensure you can also bring in those high sales figures.

In this post, we will explore the main traits that the most successful salespeople tend to display. We’ll also help you understand how you can adopt these traits to ensure you have the opportunity to become a successful salesperson.

What Traits Make Successful Salespeople?

Successful salespeople know how to do a sales pitch that captivates potential customers – and this brings in more sales. They take advantage of their traits and often focus on a valuable characteristic to close sales while still caring about what a customer needs. Let’s look at the traits that a great salesperson generally tends to have.

An Extrovert Personality

When it comes to personalities, there are both introverts and extroverts. Good salespeople are often extroverts. This means they are sociable and outgoing – and not shy to speak up when needed. This personality type often goes hand in hand with confidence, as extroverts can express themselves confidently.

This is also one of the hardest to adopt, especially for someone who is an introvert. You may sit in front of a desk and avoid face-to-face situations with leads and potential customers. Working on your ability to be more of a “people person” can offer you long-term benefits as a salesperson.

Able To Truly Listen and Understand

As a salesperson, you need to understand your customers. This means you need to be able to listen to what your customers have to say – even when they are not yet on your list of confirmed sales. At the lead stage, you should focus on genuinely listening to what these people say and try to relate to them.

By understanding what a customer expects from the product or service you are offering them, you have a better chance at “sealing the deal.” You can tailor your approach and sales pitch according to the information you gather when you decide to listen to leads and customers more thoroughly. Good listening skills are something that top salespeople have and are also a trait that you can develop over time.

Great At Multitasking

You’ll find that most successful salespeople are exceptionally good at multitasking. When you are a salesperson with a lot of deals coming in, you’ll be faced with different customers requiring assistance, having questions, and showing interest in what you are offering them. The inability to multitask effectively could spell trouble for you in such a situation.

If you find multitasking troublesome, then there are strategies you can use to improve these skills. Task batching is an excellent option that you can use, as it allows you to categorize all of your tasks. It makes it much easier to see the connection between the tasks and which tasks need priority. Proper organization can also be a big help when it comes to multitasking. Use sales tools that help you keep track of important matters, log communication with leads and customers, and allows you to set up a schedule.

The Ability to Be Transparent and Honest

The best salespeople will never lie to leads to secure a sale. Taking advantage of false facts or information to get someone to sign a contract will have consequences in the future. It’s against company culture and can lead to someone having misconceptions about what you have to offer, signing up, then discovering that you were not honest with them. This will break their trust in you – which is something a good salesperson relies on to retain their customers.

If you want to be a good salesperson, then focus on being completely transparent with people. If you know that a specific product or service will not be well-suited to someone, tell them – even if it means offering them an alternative that will bring in fewer profits. In the long run, this can help you build trust among your customers and ensure they do not turn to the competition.

Optimistic And Confidence

Being optimistic and confident is also essential for the best salespeople. If you are not optimistic, you may miss out on opportunities – as you will likely find yourself unable to take chances when you do not have complete control over a situation or know precisely what the outcome would be. When you are optimistic about a specific action or opportunity, you are more likely to take the risk – and even in a situation where it does not work out like you want it to, you’ll still be able to learn from the mistakes you made.

Confidence is something that customers can see and hear in a good salesperson. You need to be confident in what you are selling and your ability to sell it to the potential customer. A gamification process is also an excellent way to promote optimism and greater confidence among most salespeople.

Care About More Than Just the Product or Service

Greediness is something that we sometimes see in salespeople. They don’t care about the customer but want a lead to sign a contract so that they can profit in the process. While this may lead to some initial sales, there must be a way to ensure long-term success and customer retention.

A good salesperson will care about more than just making a sale. They will also care about the customer – prioritizing the customer’s needs and ensuring the individual knows that the salesperson wants to look out for them. When the customer feels cared for, it harbors trust and creates a lasting relationship – which can also lead to better retention rates and higher sales figures. Another benefit from this particular trait is that the customer is also more likely to recommend the excellent salesperson to other people – providing word-of-mouth marketing that doesn’t cost anything extra.

A Creative Mindset

People are getting smarter – including consumers you may want to target as part of your sales and marketing strategy. Salespeople work with different types of clients, and not everyone will have the same response to one strategy you use. Thus, another critical trait among top performers in sales is creativity.

Top performers will generally use their creative mindset to develop unique strategies they can use during the sales process. They will keep the client’s best interests in mind to develop strategies that harbor a long-term relationship. Professionals often view creativity as a type of “secret weapon” throughout the entire sales process.

Understanding Sales Personality Types

While there are important traits that you should understand, such as being a good listener, appearing confident, and ensuring you are optimistic, it’s also essential to take note of the four primary sales personality types. Some professional salespeople will have elements from a single personality type, while others will rather boast aspects from multiple personality types.

It’s important to note that having a specific sales personality type is not a weakness but can instead be seen as a strength. When you express elements from multiple personality types, you can use this to your advantage to help you with your selling goals and strategies.

Assertive Style

A person with an assertive personality style is generally goal-oriented while also being competitive at the same time. The personality type is also associated with being decisive and not asking too many questions.

Other elements associated with an assertive style include:

• Controlling
• Impatient
• Loud

These people are generally very confident in their abilities and considered extroverts.

Amiable Style

When you have an amiable personality, then you are patient and friendly. You present information calmly and informally and are an excellent listener. You also prioritize creating solid relationships with your prospects that often lasts for a long time. People with amiable personalities will also ask questions often during the selling process.

Expressive Style

The expressive personality style generally includes those who are “people pleasing.” They are persuasive and outgoing and showcase a lot of creativity in their approach. Many people with this personality style will also be spontaneous but loyal and enthusiastic at the same time.

Analytic Style

When your decisions and actions depend primarily on actual facts, you likely have an analytic personality type. Salespeople with this personality type are generally much more professional and have no interest in building personal relationships with their prospects and clients. They are serious and always ensure they are prepared when they attend a meeting.

Improving Your Own Skills as A Sales Professional

If you struggle to make it in sales and have difficulty securing more leads, it is crucial to look at your own traits and skills. Even if you do not have all of the traits you see in top salespeople, you can still make a big difference in your success by implementing a few steps. Adopting some of the traits we discussed is a good starting point. This can help you improve your chances of success when converting leads to clients.

• It’s vital to ensure you understand where you are at the moment and to assess your skills. Whether you work as a salesperson for large or small businesses, understanding your current situation is a crucial starting point. You also need to know who your target market is – which is something that your business may define already. Even if your business has a specific market in mind, researching on your own is fine to break down further the people you should target with your sales strategies.
• Being goal-oriented is also essential to ensure you are more successful with your efforts in sales. Set goals for yourself that are realistic, based on the skills and traits you currently have. When you reach these goals, you’ll feel motivated – and you’ll be able to strive for higher goals in the future.
• Active listening is also a skill that you should focus on developing at this point. The goal is to listen to your customers and understand their situation and needs before you even start your attempt to push for a sale.

Apart from these tips, working on your organizational skills is also helpful. Being organized is exceptionally useful in cases where you work in sales. Whether you work from the office or go out to see prospects face-to-face, it is easier to make a deal with a prospect when you are organized. You’ll have all the documents you require with you and know how to approach the prospect to increase your chances of a successful sale.

The Bottom Line

Becoming one of the best salespeople within a sales team doesn’t happen overnight. A good salesperson requires certain traits and personality types to ensure they can work with promising leads and convert them into paying customers. 

At Spinify, we understand how frustrating the sales process can be, which is why we offer gamification software that really stands out. Not all salespeople find it easy to adapt to a competitive environment. Still, with gamification, even the average sales rep will have a positive attitude and a will to improve their skills and climb the ranks. Book a demo today to learn more about how our gamification software can help improve your team’s sales skills and motivation.