Unveiling the Traits That Drive Sales Success: A Comprehensive Guide

In The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, you will find the idea that success is individual. This is why you see salespeople who work for the largest and most successful companies fail to succeed. When you consider success to be connected to an individual, it is easier to understand why a salesperson with the best solution may not find their way to success. Even having a great sales manager is no guarantee that the salespeople under them will succeed.

I’ve studied the variables that make some salespeople so successful in B2B sales. Some of them are innate, while others are learned or developed over time.

Factors Contributing to Sales Success

Born This Way: One of my friends continually asks me if salespeople are born or made. The answer is yes. Some are born, and others are made over time. There are salespeople who have a set of characteristics that make it easier for people to buy from them. Two of these are likability and charisma. Even though you might resent born salespeople for the gifts they were granted at birth, you can learn from them.

Fast Rapport Skills: Another innate factor is fast rapport-building skills. I have seen a salesperson walk into a first meeting and be hugged by the client before leaving.

People who have these innate abilities have no trouble using them to succeed. But over time, as our world starts to turn faster, these factors may not be enough for some to succeed on these innate advantages.

Keys to Success in Sales

There are a number of positive factors that salespeople can earn over time. These factors are generally available to any salesperson who is willing to learn how to sell effectively. These same salespeople may also gain an education through their experience selling. Many of us and our brothers and sisters have found success with or without the innate factors others might have.

Experience in an Industry: The first of the learned or earned factors is the amount of time you work in an industry. The longer you sell in a single industry, the more you will learn how to sell effectively. Because you are selling the same thing, you also earn an education on what doesn’t work and why it fails. When you bounce from one industry to another, you are almost certain to stunt your ability to succeed in sales.

Expertise and Authority: By selling in a certain industry, you give yourself a chance to become an expert and authority in your industry. It is possible that you can possess the innate factors and still do the work to be what we call One-Up. The greater your expertise, the easier it is for your clients to buy from you.

Effective Communication: You can learn and earn the ability to communicate effectively. Since all you have to work with is the sales conversation, you improve your chances of succeeding in sales by mastering the effective communication your clients expect from a professional. You can learn to speak by attending Toastmasters for a small amount of money and an hour a week.

Resilience and Persistence: Those who succeed in sales persist in pursuing their dream clients. This resilience prevents them from becoming frustrated or giving up on themselves or their prospective clients.

Building and Maintaining Relationships: Those who build and maintain relationships have an advantage over those who are transactional. Salespeople who develop and invest in long-term relationships will grow their portfolios by retaining clients while adding new ones. This is how the rich get richer when it comes to their success.

Business Acumen: In B2B sales, those who have greater business acumen find greater success. If you give people advice on their business, you are a business advisor. Those who only sell their solution will have a challenging time finding success, especially if they sell to enterprise-level clients.

A Consultative Approach: Some sales methodologies are more consultative than others, but you can learn how to use a consultative approach if you earn the status and knowledge it takes. In a time when buyers and decision-makers struggle with uncertainty, a consultative sales approach can help you provide them with the certainty and confidence they need to pursue their desired results. Your advice and recommendations improve your chances of success in sales.

Valuable Insights: If you pay attention and take careful notes, you will improve your chances of succeeding in B2B sales by sharing insights that your clients find helpful to their decision-making. These insights are valuable because your contacts don’t know what they don’t know until someone provides them with insight that helps them see their situation more clearly.

Facilitating the Buyer’s Journey: Selling every day means guiding your contacts through their buyer’s journey. This is one way you create value for your client, but you must have the ability to lead the client through these conversations. It is important to remember that your client is making a rare, strategic decision they must get right on the first attempt.

Those who master these factors will have a sustainable advantage in a contest with your competitors. Before leaving this article, make a list of the innate factors you possess and the ones you will need to master to have an extreme sustainable advantage, one that will find you with greater sales effectiveness.