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By Ron S. LaVine, MBA, CEO
Find out common traits of successful sales executives. Five of them are discussed here.
Top Sales Executives Work Smart
Top sales executives recognize their time is precious and finite. These sales representatives know
their primary job is to identify and call on the most profitable accounts first. Examining their
current customer base and finding the common characteristics or demographics (gross sales, number
of employees, industries, etc.) top salespeople know in advance what types of accounts where they
make the most money. They separate their accounts by time zone enabling them to make the best use of
their phone time throughout the day.
Once prioritized and sorted, top sales executives use their sharp questioning and listening skills to
reach the decision maker and determine, with reasonable certainty, whether or not a business opportunity
exists within an account. When a business opportunity is found within a department, business unit,
location, joint venture, affiliate, reseller or partner, these successful sales reps always remember
to set up specific action steps or a sales m.a.p. (tm) (Mutually agreed upon process) with the individual
or individuals who influence the buying decision. Then they politely yet persistently follow up on these
action steps through completion. Knowing how valuable their time is, the most successful salespeople do
only those things they cannot delegate to someone else.
Top Sales Executives Think like Business Owners
Top sales executives adopt an attitude that they are in business for themselves not in business by
themselves. These top salespeople make decisions upon seeing themselves as the business owner.
Organization and Prioritization of Goals
Top sales executives recognize the importance of organizing and prioritizing their goals. These people
get ahead by planning ahead. They have clearly defined lofty goals and self discipline to see them
through. Top sales executives are goal getters not just goal setters.
Top Sales Executives are Persuasive Communicators
The top successful salespeople are listening for reasons to buy and for ways to sell. Sensitive to an
account's time available to speak with them and enthusiastic in their presentations and these top
sales reps have mastered the technique of carefully selecting words for their positive connotations.
Top Sales Executives Are Always Striving for Self-improvement
Always growing, studying, reading, attending seminars, learning all the time, their goal is movement
in a positive direction. These salespeople seek out opportunities to perfect their presentations and
volunteer for leadership positions so they can stretch themselves as people and professionals.
Top Sales Executives have Positive Self-esteem
Strong, balanced sense of self worth combined with confidence in themselves and a belief in what they
are doing are the hallmark of a great sales rep. Enthusiasm, excitement and zeal are elements of their
character.
These people do a better job and become more productive by learning, practicing, changing and developing
these new habits so they are incorporated and internalized qualities in both their personal and professional
life.
Conclusion
First and foremost is the right attitude. You will hear this throughout most sales workshops because the right
attitude is the difference between those that give up and those who never quit. There is no silver or magic
bullet. Only hard work and persistence pays off.
To become a great sales executive, one must enjoy working with people and have a strong sense of curiosity, great
listening skills and the ability to see the big picture. The best sales executives are able to produce
results. Pay for performance is the way they prefer to work.
A great sales executive is someone who has a working knowledge of their company's operations, products and
services, and possesses the ability to collect useful business sales intelligence(tm) about their accounts and
translate the information into additional sales. They are persistent and tenacious to find the answers to their
questions and they keep going until they do.
David R. Bender of the Special Libraries Association sums it up well: "...how many people have the expertise to
evaluate, analyze, organize and package raw data-transforming it into meaningful information that can be put to work?"
He goes on to say "...not many, and the explanation is quite simple." As management expert Peter Drucker wrote in a
column for the Wall Street Journal, "There is a big difference between being computer literate and information literate."
Bender writes, "Drucker explained that for data to become useful information, it must be organized for a task or applied to a
decision." He contended, however, "Few people are adept at determining exactly what information they need to do their jobs,
when they need the information, and where they can get it."
A great sales executive knows what data is needed, where it can be found and how to get it and provide it in a manner enabling
them to increase their sales. In striving to become the best, top sales executives focus on creating value for their clients and
a sense of pride and accomplishment for themselves.
Copyright 2001 by Intellworks, Inc. Live Sales Call Training™ - Give us your toughest accounts
that you can't penetrate. We'll call them LIVE, right in front of the entire sales organization, and
prove you can get in and get results. This article was reprinted with permission from Intellworks’
Sales TIPs for Success FREE email newsletter. Sign up for your FREE subscription now at:
www.intellworks.com.
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