{"id":1604,"date":"2008-06-04T12:45:54","date_gmt":"2008-06-04T17:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/secret-traits-of-top-salespeople\/"},"modified":"2008-06-04T12:39:07","modified_gmt":"2008-06-04T17:39:07","slug":"secret-traits-of-top-salespeople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/secret-traits-of-top-salespeople\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Traits Of Top Salespeople"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SalesHQ.com offers up a<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.saleshq.com\/training\/articles\/702-secrets-of-top-sales-achievers?referral=shq_nlet\">n article that discusses the &#8220;secrets&#8221; of top sales achievers<\/a>.\u00a0 A couple of the secrets:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u2022 Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without \u2018approval power\u2019. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Recognize when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And then there is the most important one:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u2022 Never entertain business they do not want because they recognize that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does a profitable one. They trust their own judgement but also rely heavily on objective assessment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That last secret cannot be stressed enough.\u00a0 This point is a fine one, but the strongest salespeople recognize a dog when they see one and move on.\u00a0 If the prospective deal is a loser for them, they go find a new prospect.\u00a0 This ability is difficult to train but crucial to success.<\/p>\n<p>As a sales manager, it is imperative that you question your salespeople on what information they have qualified for any prospective deal on their forecast.\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t, some of the salespeople will waste time chasing low probability deals to appear busy.\u00a0 The end result will be surprise that they didn&#8217;t get the deal closed at the end.<\/p>\n<p>I know this because I have done it as a sales rep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SalesHQ.com offers up an article that discusses the &#8220;secrets&#8221; of top sales achievers.\u00a0 A couple of the secrets: \u2022 Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without \u2018approval power\u2019. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit. \u2022 Recognize when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability And then there is the most important one: \u2022 Never entertain business they do not want because they recognize that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/secret-traits-of-top-salespeople\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[474,475,737,1750,477,476,142],"class_list":["post-1604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management","category-sales-techniques","tag-developing-salespeople","tag-growing-salespeople","tag-holding-salespeople-accountable","tag-sales-management","tag-sales-manager-priorities","tag-sales-manager-role","tag-sales-technique"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-pS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2478,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2011\/03\/conventional-wisdom-about-sales-managers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":0},"title":"Conventional Wisdom About Sales Managers","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an article from Eye on Sales that addresses a common sales management topic \u2013 should you promote your top salesperson into the sales manager role?\u00a0 I would argue that the conventional wisdom is to avoid making this mistake. From the article: Sales management mistake #1: Promoting top performers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1490,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/03\/the-essence-of-sales-management\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":1},"title":"The Essence of Sales Management","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a tough topic because there isn't a cookie-cutter sales manager template that fits for all companies.\u00a0 Our experience has been that smaller-sized companies tend to expect the sales manager to carry a significant quota while larger companies expect the sales manager to manage without carrying a personal quota.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Onramping&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Onramping","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/onramping\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1346,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/12\/motivating-salespeople\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":2},"title":"Motivating Salespeople","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Sales managers have to be part-time psychologists in their leadership position.\u00a0 The best salespeople have an internal motivation that drives them to succeed.\u00a0 Yet, a strong sales manager still has to know each salesperson's drivers and how to access them when needed. Selling Power offers a short article titled Internalizing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1432,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/why-do-salespeople-quit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":3},"title":"Why Do Salespeople Quit?","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"February 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've read\u00a0in many articles, blog posts and white papers that people take a job because of the company and quit because of a manager.\u00a0 I have talked to many salespeople about why they are looking for a new opportunity and\u00a0the vast majority do come down to their manager.\u00a0\u00a0But there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1606,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/managing-through-distractions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":4},"title":"Managing Through Distractions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dave Kurlan has a post that struck a chord with me.\u00a0 The topic is distractions and how they affect salespeople (my editing): Distractions can take many forms, from the call that takes them off their game, to the illness or death of a loved one that stops their game cold.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1576,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/pushing-the-sales-cycle\/","url_meta":{"origin":1604,"position":5},"title":"Pushing The Sales Cycle","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Salespeople are finely-tuned into the economy since it can have a direct impact on their wallet.\u00a0 The fact is many salespeople who falter during an economic downturn get let go.\u00a0 That is a lot of pressure to handle even for strong salespeople. ManageSmarter.com offers up this article - Chronicles of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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