Chicken before the egg?
Cart before the horse? Sales
people are born or made?
There are many different answers to these thoughts,
however, let’s focus on the Sales people are born or made phenomena since we
can debate these topics forever and ever.
So “Are salespeople born or made?” has
been asked, especially by employers, consumers and skeptics, since the first
salesperson made the first call, which probably was before philosophical
legends asked their first questions. My answer is both. The “born”
salesperson possess instinctive attributes others must work extensively to
develop, learn and attempt what may not be natural to them at first.
First is the gift of swagger, charm and
poetic-articulated conversation. This person is comfortable talking to
anyone at any time. They can be standing behind an attractive person at a
random gas pump at a very random gas station in the middle of nowhere and, spontaneously
out of the clear blue, initiate dialogue. This is simply so natural for
this person that at most any given time they simply don’t realize it’s
happening…it just happens.
Gentlemen: “You’re a red shade kind of gal, I
see.”
Lady: She smiles, says, “Actually I buy
whatever is on sale.”
Gentlemen: “I don’t see it that way, mam. Every woman wants choices. But in the end, none
wants to be one of a hundred in a box. Your look is unique. It tells the world,
“I’m beautiful”. I belong to somebody, not you. You mark your
man with your lips. He who has your
lips is your possession. Your look says, “I’m taken”. But I don’t think you are. I think your look really means, come find
out.
Turns
out she’s single, too; they walk out together and exchange cell numbers.
It’s that simple.
Different types of sales situations require different characteristics
and different skills. And an individual good at instant results, door to door
situations may well not excel in a complex solution business to business
environment where deals take many months and years and with complex decision
making processes. For this reason, moving from one position to another in
different markets may see your natural traits becoming of more or less use to
you.
Secondly,
the born salesperson possesses an emotional “radar detector,” which the less
fortunate colleagues lack. I call it the Sixth Sense. When he sits
across from his prospect, this “radar” instinctively reveals how the prospect is
emotionally reacting to the presentation—through body language, facial
expression, eye contact or lack of eye contact, strength of commitments, and
responses to trial closes. For over 10 years I sat across from some of
the toughest business people your imagination can conjure up, and rarely within
the first five minutes did I not sense how the presentation was going to go.
Think of it as something akin to a perceptive poker player reading his
opponents.
What's more, sales
skills are most definitely made and not born. Babies are most definitely not
born with an ability to understand buying drivers or complex needs. This
understanding comes from application, focus and commitment to being a
professional salesperson.
It won’t become instinctive overnight, but given enough time and experience
it’ll happen. Like anything else in life worth attaining, you must keep
at it with the perseverance of becoming better daily.
If you want to succeed at sales then you
need to forget where you are now, you need to stop making excuses for your
personality, your upbringing and your skill set and you need to set your mind
to learning and developing the skills and attributes that you need to be a
successful s ales professional.
Folks we are not talking about physics
and energy (can’t be created or destroyed), we are talking about Sales. It may
well be that some people are naturally more people oriented than you. It might
well be that some people are naturally more robust and resilient to rejection
than you. It may well be that some people leap to their feet and make confident
presentations first time out of the gate. That's just the luck of the draw and
all it represents is where you are right now.
We were all born first and later made
into something through time. So are
sales people born or made? I still say
both!
“Don’t
ever let somebody turn your sky into a ceiling”.
