3 Qualities a Sales Rep MUST Have

Hi,

With 18 years of sales management experience under my belt, from India to Africa, across Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cameroon etc, I was often asked by young members of my sales team…” what are the 3 top qualities of a sales rep”…and the following I believe are universally relevant, even today. (I dont profess to know the future, and going by the way business eco-systems are evolving , I dare say that this list will undergo a change in some months and I will be happy to see additions or changes to this list!)

• Empathy: You need to understand customer emotional and financial needs, both as people and as professionals. ( Develop to “see” the business from the other side of the table)

 

• Persuasiveness: You need to be able to bring prospects to the realization that buying is in their best interests. (This often calls for developing your technical/analytical skills)

 

• Resilience: Being in sales means that you’ll sometimes face rejection, so you need to be able to shrug off such experiences and move on. (Learn from your mistakes and consciously endeavor to not repeat them , and hunt for other leads)

Key attributes to becoming an effective marketer

• Sales is your friend. The whole “natural tension between sales and marketing” thing is a dysfunctional crock. Sales owns the customer relationship. As a marketer, one of your key functions is to facilitate sales’ ability to sell your products. You need each other and your goals can and should be aligned.
• Be patient with your boss and peers. Not coincidentally, strong leaders and managers often tend to be controlling individuals. That means they can become easily frustrated with things they don’t understand, i.e. marketing. Be patient and pay attention to their feedback.
• Remember, you have way more customers than you think. The executive staff, your peers, product development, manufacturing, sales, finance, HR, employee communications, they’re all stakeholders in the marketing function. Treat them as such.
• Bond with the development and product people. This goes way beyond educating and teaching. These are very smart people with a strong, vested interest in what you plan to do with their product. Bond with them, listen to them, understand their issues and concerns, make them partners in your “process;” it’ll pay off big-time.
• Teach, teach, teach. Successful marketers are strong communicators and educators. Spend as much time teaching and educating internally as you do networking and meeting with customers externally. Again, it’ll pay off.
• Measure and communicate results. The biggest slam on marketing is that it’s an expense black hole with no metrics to measure results. Be disciplined. Spend 10 percent of your budget on metrics for key programs and take the time to communicate results – both good and bad – to stakeholders. Do it.
  • Listen, listen, listen. Most of your “brilliant ideas” will come from others – internal stakeholders, vendors, and customers. Make them part of your “process.” Your job is to actively listen and then crystallize these gems into product and corporate strategy and positioning. It’s a real skill to learn, but it starts with listening.
• Get out and visit customers. Balance internal focus with external focus. That doesn’t mean waste customers’ and sales’ time to suit your agenda, but meet with customers when you’ve got something important – from their perspective, not just yours – to discuss. Ask open, leading questions and listen to their feedback. It’s invaluable.
• Get close to your competition. I don’t mean study their products, I mean get close, really close. Introduce yourself at conferences or other events – they’ll be there. Get together from time to time, have lunch, whatever. They don’t bite. Just remember to learn more than you share.

• Be accessible to the media. PR and the media can be an incredibly powerful tool, but like all tools, you have to learn to use them properly or they can work against you. I’m not saying be reactive; it should fit into your overall communications goals, strategy, and messaging. Creating a buzz is an art form; just look at Steve Jobs and Apple.
• Make key vendors part of your virtual team. If you pick the right vendors, they can be tremendous strategic resources, since some of the most capable PR and advertising people have their own firms. To benefit from their knowledge and experience, bring them into the fold. Make them part of your virtual team, just like the rest of your staff.
• Be visible, network, attend conferences and events. It’s easy to become too internally focused within the four walls of your company. You can lose perspective and start to breath too much of your own fumes. Get out, network, meet people, and bat some ideas and concepts around. If you don’t do it, who in your company will?
• Listen, listen, listen. Most of your “brilliant ideas” will come from others – internal stakeholders, vendors, and customers. Make them part of your “process.” Your job is to actively listen and then crystallize these gems into product and corporate strategy and positioning. It’s a real skill to learn, but it starts with listening.
• Get out and visit customers. Balance internal focus with external focus. That doesn’t mean waste customers’ and sales’ time to suit your agenda, but meet with customers when you’ve got something important – from their perspective, not just yours – to discuss. Ask open, leading questions and listen to their feedback. It’s invaluable.
• Get close to your competition. I don’t mean study their products, I mean get close, really close. Introduce yourself at conferences or other events – they’ll be there. Get together from time to time, have lunch, whatever. They don’t bite. Just remember to learn more than you share.
• Be accessible to the media. PR and the media can be an incredibly powerful tool, but like all tools, you have to learn to use them properly or they can work against you. I’m not saying be reactive; it should fit into your overall communications goals, strategy, and messaging. Creating a buzz is an art form; just look at Steve Jobs and Apple.
• Make key vendors part of your virtual team. If you pick the right vendors, they can be tremendous strategic resources, since some of the most capable PR and advertising people have their own firms. To benefit from their knowledge and experience, bring them into the fold. Make them part of your virtual team, just like the rest of your staff.
• Be visible, network, attend conferences and events. It’s easy to become too internally focused within the four walls of your company. You can lose perspective and start to breath too much of your own fumes. Get out, network, meet people, and bat some ideas and concepts around. If you don’t do it, who in your company will?