What Makes Someone Right for Sales?

There is a common misconception that a sales rep needs to have a specific academic and professional background or even personality type to be successful. Specific backgrounds can help, but one should not discount a great candidate just because they don’t have the exact experience you imagine they should. People with all kinds of temperaments, experience, and educational training can be successful in sales.

THE PERFECT BACKGROUND?

In sales, and SaaS sales in particular, employers look for candidates with backgrounds in sales and business. Individuals with non-business degrees or backgrounds, however, can have valuable skills that that lend themselves to sales.

Someone with a strong background in math might have great analytical skills which will help them when planning and enacting long-term strategies. Individuals with a scientific background understand processes and how to implement them, which is crucial to success in sales. Educators can make great sales reps due to their communication skills and patience.

There is a myriad of different professional backgrounds that lend themselves to success. It’s often a matter of finding someone not with specific credentials, but who is adept at applying their strengths and experience in one environment to another.

THE PERFECT PERSONALITY?

A rep having the right personality or temperament is important to long-term success, but it might not be the character traits you’re thinking of. One misconception about salespeople is that they need to be uber outgoing, but being extroverted isn’t a pre-requisite for sales success. And being super outgoing in the absence of other crucial traits can be a recipe for disaster.

Talking too much can come across as pushy and aggressive. In successful sales calls, the prospects do most of the talking (57% to be exact). A rep should listen to a prospect and what they need, not just spew data and value props.

I’ve been looking at used cars, and one salesperson just went on and on about a feature I did not care about at all. I felt bored, unheard, and like my time was being wasted. If he had just asked me a good open-ended question about which features I cared about, he would have saved both of us a lot of time and closed the deal much faster. 

THE PERFECT (LEARNABLE) CHARACTERISTICS

So, what are the qualities that sales professionals do need to be truly successful at what they do?

Consistency
The most successful reps follow a consistent process. With a plan and a timeline in place, they can benchmark their progress. How many emails or texts have they exchanged with the prospect? Have they gotten the prospect’s supervisor on a call yet? Have they sent out the contract yet? These are the kinds of questions process-driven sales reps ask themselves when gauging how far along in the sale they are.

Curiosity
A curious rep asks questions and gains clarity about what issues the prospect is facing and how their product or service fits in. Good communication isn’t simply talking or sending messages back and forth—it is uncovering the needs and wants of a prospect and explaining how your product or service will impact their organization.

True sales professionals are willing and eager to learn. Salespeople need to know not only about what they are selling, but also about the target industry and the buyer’s role. Having your reps be curious and open to learning about the target industry and the needs of either the end consumer or the ultimate buyer helps them be seen as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and establish credibility. A rep who truly knows an industry is more earnestly empathetic with the prospect (which brings us to our next trait).

Empathy
Everyone has KPIs they need to meet; everyone feels like they do not have enough time to onboard a new platform or service. Having a rep who is understanding of what issues the prospect faces on a day-to-day basis can go a long way in building up a trusting relationship. A good salesperson not only understands what the buyers’ KPIs are, but can explain how their solution can help get them there.

Part of being empathetic is actively listening to prospects. Listening skills earn you information and can save you time. Spending one hour listening to a prospect and quickly determining that they are not a good fit is better than spending a lot more time trying to convince someone either to take a second meeting or that a product or service is right for them.

Asking prospects the right questions and digging deeper into their responses also helps uncover obstacles and roadblocks that may come up later down the line. If a prospective customer mentions that their supervisor is old-school and hates AI, for example, do you have a plan in place to address that? As important as listening skills are, understanding the cultural context of the buyer is also essential.

Cultural Awareness
As someone who speaks both English and Italian, I understand first-hand how many miscommunications can happen simply because of a language barrier. Hiring salespeople who are bilingual or have knowledge of the customs and culture of the countries into which you sell can be beneficial for many reasons.

Communicating with prospects in their native languages will make them more comfortable when conversing with a rep and will show them that you care enough about them to get someone who can converse in the language that is most convenient for them. As the number of Spanish speakers in the US grows, it will become more important to have bilingual reps even if you’re not selling internationally. 

Besides language, it’s also critical to understand what is culturally acceptable wherever you are selling. For example, in Germany, being straightforward, blunt, and refraining from making jokes in a business context is the norm, while in Italy, business interactions are more laid back and about building relationships. Is it acceptable to be late where you’re selling? Are deadlines more guidelines rather than strict cutoffs? It’s easy to see why, when building out an international sales team, it is valuable to find reps who know the target language or understand the intricacies of the culture.  

There is no perfect background for sales. The traits you’re looking for may be present in someone with a sales background, but they may also be present in someone who has experience as an educator, human resources rep, or public relations officer. The important question to ask isn’t always whether they have a specific background, but whether they can effectively apply their experience and knowledge to sales and are ready to learn.

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