An amazing salesperson is able to adapt and adjust to the changing business environment in order to stay relevant and ahead of their competition. An amazing salesperson will set high goals, then go out and achieve them through relentless hard work and dedication. They also know that success cannot be achieved overnight, but rather it takes time and a great deal of patience. Since an amazing salesperson constantly strives to be better, they know that their success does not depend on what you have but instead on how you think and what steps you take towards getting to where you want to be.
After 15 years of successful, high-level experience and having the opportunity to meet very successful and amazing salespeople, I’ve put together a list of my personal thoughts on what it takes to be at the very top in sales.
Table of Contents
Self-motivated
The job of a salesperson is never finished. Successful salespeople have a strong sense of determination and motivation that inspires them to work harder and a strong desire to constantly improve whether they are facing a roadblock or just closed a monster deal.
Self-motivated individuals don’t need anyone to tell them when they need to improve, change certain habits, or even when it’s time to look for a new job.
I’m a big fan of the NBA. So for you guys and girls who are also fans, recent champion Giannis Antetokounmpo had this to say: “When you think you are the best, you stop becoming better. I always want to be humble and chase other players, other teams. It’s a great compliment, but I’m not the best player in the world, I have to get better.”
Another amazing speech that puts this in fantastic perspective is by actor Matthew McConaughey, who said this during his Golden Globes Award speech years ago: “And to my hero. That’s who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say “who’s your hero?” And I said, “I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.” I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?” I said, “I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.” So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So, are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.”
Sense of Urgency
An amazing salesperson knows that time is money, and that every moment not spent working towards a goal is time wasted. They are always able to take action when an opportunity knocks because they don’t want any regret later on down the road.
They know how to apply a sense of urgency to their sales calls in order to get the best deals for their customers.
But more importantly, they know how to apply a sense of urgency towards their own lives. Sales move fast. So does life. You need to keep up with it and never let a week go by where you didn’t push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Adaptable
A reality of life is that things change, and sometimes they change fast. As the great Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.” I love that quote so much because it’s 110% true.
Just a few short years ago, the industry I was in was facing heavy regulatory change that threatened the very existence of me and my peers. But for years it was just potential, with nothing ever set in stone. Then all of a sudden, they came down like Thor’s Hammer and put a massive halt to the way things were done for decades.
Some salespeople quit within the following week. Others just drifted along until they couldn’t take it anymore.
I put my head down and decided to go along, while trying to figure things out. I was constantly on the lookout for new opportunities like a man possessed. Eventually, I quickly discovered an untapped market/niche in my field (which I had no experience selling, by the way) and absolutely crushed it. The following year was 10x better for me than my previous best year.
Moral of the story: Be prepared for change. Some changes are small, but some can threaten your very existence. Learn to adapt, quickly.
Passionate
An amazing salesperson is passionate about the industry he or she is in. This passion helps them become better at their job, make more money for themselves and their company, and help others achieve success as well.
I don’t care if you’re a great salesperson, with fantastic technical skills — if you don’t have passion for what you do, you won’t ever reach your highest level of success.
If you’re in sales just for the money, you’re going to burn out. And soon, the money won’t mean a thing.
You have to be passionate not just about what you do, but why you do it. The “why” is the most important part — it’s what separates you from everyone else.
Creative
Amazing salespeople have a flair for creativity. They are constantly trying new strategies to help themselves, their team, and their company reach their goals.
Creativity is great for problem-solving, coming up with new ways of doing things, or even just motivating yourself out of a rut.
Creative salespeople can take a regular old sales pitch, apply their creative spin to it, and make it sound like magic.
Powerful Work Ethic
Knowing how to work hard is just as important as having the knowledge and skills to do your job well. A great salesperson needs to know how to budget their time, stay focused on the task at hand, and get things done in a timely manner.
And if they couldn’t accomplish what they needed to in a timely manner — they work some more until they get the job done.
Work doesn’t end for them when the clock hits 5:00 PM. They continue to think about what they need to do next.
Amazing salespeople treat every day like it’s their first day on the job. You know that feeling, right? You go the extra mile, you work your ass off to impress all of your new colleagues and bosses, and you give the new job everything you have, no matter how tired you are at the end of the day.
Amazing salespeople retain that work ethic, throughout their entire careers. Sound hard? It definitely is. But that’s what sets them apart.
One of my favorite basketball players, Kobe Bryant, famously had one of the most insane work ethics of any basketball player, probably ever. One quote about him that really stands out to me, however, is this: “We are obsessive,” Bryant said. “We wouldn’t want to be doing anything other than what we are doing. That’s where obsession comes in — when you care about something 24 hours a day.
Positive Attitude
And not just a regular positive attitude. But an iron-clad aura of positivity that can’t be broken. An amazing salesperson is constantly looking at the positive side of things. They’re able to see opportunity in every adversity, and they know how to bring their best – even when things aren’t going well for them.
They literally train their brains to be happy when something bad happens – because it’s an opportunity for something new. Something that WILL eventually be molded and shaped into a long-term positive outcome for them.
Whenever something doesn’t go my way, I get upset. I won’t lie. I’m not at the stage yet where I smile when bad things happen.
But my mind starts going a million miles an hour, in a million different directions on how I can end up benefiting from this. After I collect my thoughts, I put them into action.
And I can confidently say this now looking back at all the adversity and bad shit that I’ve been through; things not only improved, but things also got a lot better than before (and I’m talking before the bad stuff happened.)
Accountable
An awesome salesperson takes responsibility when things go wrong, and they make sure to tell everyone when they do things right. It’s not always easy to take the blame for when something goes awry in a project or sales pitch, but great salespeople know that it’s their job to step up and own what happens on their watch.
If they make a mistake, they don’t sit around and whine about it. They apologize for what happened, figure out how to prevent it from happening again, then move their focus toward more positive outcomes.
If they do something right, then they brag about it! A little bit of bragging never hurt anyone. Not only will people notice your accomplishments, but you’ll feel better about the work that you put in.
Trustworthy
Be honest, be real. If you make people feel like they can trust you with their time, money, or business – they’ll most likely buy from you, and you’ll have a great long-term relationship.
When I was first starting out in sales, I heard over and over again: “You want people to like you.”
I didn’t know what that meant. Did it mean I needed to start sucking up to people? Should I compliment people all the time?
But now I understand that people like to do business with those they trust. Being trustworthy in business is being someone who they can count on. Getting people to like you in business can be as simple as just being an honest, truthful person.
Amazing salespeople understand this. They tell the truth even when it hurts them or makes them look bad. It’s really about being accountable as I previously mentioned.
Incredible Self-Awareness
An amazing salesperson is all about self-awareness – knowing their strengths and weaknesses, where they need help, how they learn, and how they communicate.
Just because someone is an amazing salesperson, and great at what they do, doesn’t mean they have no faults.
Everyone has their strengths, and everyone has their weaknesses. The best salespeople acknowledge what they’re good at, but they also know where to go for help when they need it.
They ask questions about what could be better, and they proactively seek people out who can give them the answers that they need. They don’t just hope something works – they go out, and they find a way to make it work.
Just a personal insight: I used to think I was great at everything when I was a young salesperson. And I was pretty damn good at most stuff. But trying to be good at everything, made me terrible at time management. I didn’t acknowledge this until much later on in my career. Eventually, I hired and looked for help with certain things that I knew I was already good at. But it freed up my time to focus on much more important tasks and my business flourished.
Conclusion
To be completely fair, I think I could have listed a ton of other great qualities that great salespeople share – but I think these are probably the most important ones.
If you work with great salespeople, what kind of qualities do they have? If you know more than one amazing salesperson – even better! What shared traits do they have in common? What’s the difference between them and the average salesperson? What do they do differently than you right now?
Answering these questions will help you to be more successful at whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish. And listen, you don’t have to be an amazing salesperson to be successful, but as the saying goes “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Aim big and dream big.
Now go out there and be great.
