Only 20-30% of Sales Professionals consistently meet or exceed their goals. The likelihood of a Sales Professional’s success appears low. In selection psychology, we speak of a low base rate: few people are suitable. This is reflected in the low conversions of the recruitment funnel.
Selecting Sales is tricky
If the recruitment pipeline is too thin, there is a temptation to relax the selection criteria, because “we can’t turn everyone away after all.” When supply is too low, we see employers prioritizing extraversion in their selection. That is, selecting for a good chat, presentable looks, and easy contact. Being successful in sales requires much more than that. In this blog, I take you through 7 critical traits and give some tips on how to select them.
“If you select primarily for extraversion, you weaken your sales organization little by little “
7 critical attributes of Sales
Sales Professionals who consistently achieve their goals appear to possess these 7 critical traits.
- Conscientious: Top Sales excel at being organized. They are dutiful and distinguished by self-discipline. They make well-considered decisions. You will not see impulsiveness, thoughtless decisions, or failure to keep appointments with them.
- Modesty: Despite their accomplishments, top salespeople remain humble. This makes them approachable and trustworthy to customers.
- Performance orientation: They are driven by results, set ambitious goals for themselves, and work hard to achieve them. A constant desire to score drives them to excel at their craft. Of course, they are competitive and want to win over others, but it’s more than that; they particularly compete with their own goals.
- Curiosity: Top Sales have a strong drive to learn and understand. They ask questions, dig deeper, and try to fully understand their customers’ needs and problems. This requires strong analytical skills. This curiosity helps them provide customized solutions.
- Limited need for warm relationships: Contrary to popular belief, top Sales have little need for personal relationships. They are sociable rather than social. They know how to communicate professionally and primarily build business relationships.
- Don’t get discouraged: Rejection and setbacks are integral parts of Sales. Top salespeople do not get discouraged by a no. They are resilient and see every rejection as an opportunity to grow and improve. This group is emotionally hardened.
- Limited reflective ability: While this may sound surprising, we see that top salespeople are often somewhat “blind” to their own shortcomings. This can help them remain confident and determined without being distracted by self-doubt.
“The recruitment strategy determines success. The better it is, the fewer concessions you have to make”
Which Sales Professional boosts sales?
Now that we know the 7 critical attributes, we can start selecting Sales. The trick in selecting Sales is not to be tempted to be too little critical. Accept that you will have to reject many candidates. Easy contact, a smooth chat, and good looks are really not enough.
Therefore, it is important to identify all 7 essential characteristics of a candidate. A good selection process consists of several steps. At each step, you gather evidence about multiple traits. For example, the steps of a selection process can consist of interview1 / interview2, online tests / telephone interview / live interview, or interview / online assessment / live exercise, etc. The combination of steps should ensure that your organization collects sufficient dominant information on all 7 traits.
An interview-only selection process provides evidence for some of the 7 critical traits, but a sharp assessment of all traits proves difficult in practice. This requires additional selection steps.
Moreover, you have to expect low conversions in the funnel. In other words, many candidates will drop out. Because of those low conversions, many candidates will need to be recruited, and you can only spend a limited amount of time and money per candidate.
A selection process with the following steps can help you select a good Sales:
- With a short online pre-assessment as the 1st step, you can identify potential risks across the 7 critical characteristics for each candidate. This will immediately separate the wheat from the chaff.
- With the remaining candidates, organize a STAR interview that covers the traits with the greatest risk. Make sure an interview lasts no more than 75 minutes, and organize 2 STAR interviews.
- For the last few remaining candidates, organize a full assessment. If you weigh the costs of such an assessment against the lost turnover, this is a no-brainer. Such an assessment will identify the pluses and minuses as well as the possibilities for development.
One size fits all?
No, of course not. There is no standard selection process for all sales positions. Some sales positions are so specific that you call a headhunter for them, or you know someone yourself. Then you only have one candidate in the pipeline. Even then, the 7 critical characteristics apply. A pre-assessment will not help you much, but if you have doubts, a full assessment as a final step is not a luxury.
