What Makes a Great Sales Professional?

Salespeople are the backbone of your business because they bring in customers and clients. However, sales is the perfect career for the right person, and a terrible choice
for the wrong person.

To help you hire, retain, and train the right people for your sales department, check out these four traits that make a great sales professional.

1. Empathetic

Empathy is one of the best skills you can have in a sales professional. Empathy is the ability to understand another person’s wants, needs, feelings, and fears from their
point of view. A great empathetic salesperson has the right listening skills to fully understand the customer and what they need and want.

Once a salesperson knows what the customer wants, they will be able to offer better solutions. For example, if you sell curtains, and your customer works nights and sleeps
during the day, that’s valuable information. Instead of trying a one-size-fits-all sales pitch, a good sales professional can focus on unique solutions for the customer, such
as blackout curtains.

2. Patient

Not every customer will buy your product or service, which can put a lot of pressure on salespeople, especially if they get paid on commission or they haven’t sold anything
in a while. This can lead to impatience, which kills sales in more than one way.

First, if a salesperson becomes too impatient, they may want to quit, which increases employee turnover. More importantly, impatient salespeople may upset potential
customers. If a sales professional becomes too pushy or aggressive because they are impatient, they are only going to make customers uncomfortable.

One example of this comes from phone sales. Silence on the phone is uncomfortable, so the salesperson may try to fill the silence. Unfortunately, this just makes the
customer feel like they aren’t being heard and that the salesperson doesn’t really care about them or their needs. A patient sales professional, however, will be able to pause
every now and then to give the customer time to absorb what they’ve said and to ask questions.

3. Motivated

Sales professionals often build their own schedules, and many only get paid when they sell a product or service. For this reason, sales professionals have to stay motivated,
even as they face daily rejection from potential customers.

A great sales professional needs to be able to keep themselves motivated by setting short-term and long-term goals. They should also remain optimistic even when things
aren’t going well. Once a salesperson starts to think they’re failing, they decrease their chances of being successful in the future.

4. Informed

Anyone can ask someone if they want to buy a product or service, but great sales professionals are fully informed on the products and services they sell. Your salespeople
should be able to answer (or find the answer) to every question. By showing they know the product or service inside and out, customers feel more confident in your business.

However, the learning doesn’t stop there. Sales professionals must also be familiar with what their competitors are doing to show why your company is the better choice. In
addition, they must be familiar with current industry trends to anticipate customers’ needs.

A great sales professional can take your business to the next level. With the right skills, they can determine what each customer needs and explain why your business is the
right choice.

However, finding the right sales people for your company can be a challenge. If you need help finding great sales professionals for your business, contact us at Treeline, Inc., today. We specialize in recruiting salespeople and will find you talented professionals
who will help your company thrive.