Through our recent assessment work, we have noticed a number of candidates with traits that are not considered desirable in a sales role. In particular, those who have high Social and low Utilitarian motivations. Often, these people have a need to be liked, accepted and helpful even to their own detriment.
Those traits are desirable in many positions, but not sales. The main reason is this type of salesperson’s inability to qualify prospects by asking strong questions. A sales person that doesn’t qualify opportunities wastes valuable time, energy and company resources. They typically will take any meeting they can get, return with no particular purpose in mind and spend way too much time talking with people that will talk to them – not buy from them. They are loathe to call a perceived opportunity a dead end even when it clearly will never close.
In a previous life, I managed a sales rep with a similar motivational pattern. He brought a box of cookies to every meeting. In fact, he had an inventory of Perkins cookie boxes in the trunk of his car. He told every prospect that he was a “Cookieologist,” not a salesmen. Unfortunately, he was right.
The amount of time, energy, resources and stale cookies expended on unqualified accounts was ridiculous. His strategy was, “if they like me and know I’ll bring cookies to every meeting, eventually they’ll buy from me.” He would schedule an appointment and require resources (engineers) to join him in meeting with anyone who would talk to him.
Real prospects want to be qualified. They have no more time to waste than a truly effective sales person has to waste. A salesperson skilled in assisting prospects in being qualified will earn the respect and business of the buyer. This ability is far more important than the limited skill set of a cookieologist.