In my 12 years of inside sales experience, I have always pondered over this one question – Whether sales rockstars are born or made? And by born I definitely mean someone who takes up sales as a profession by choice and not as an option!
So, in my search for an answer, I have come across various conclusions, although nothing has been very satisfactory. So, I thought to write about what I have always wondered about, what I have so far believed and what I concluded of the hypothesis. May be you as readers can help me figure this out better!
It all started something like this. One day, with this very question pondering in my head, I go to office and started digging into the individual performance of inside sales reps that I have trained or experts that I have worked with all these years. I started mapping out their traits and achievements and took a recap on each individual’s performance and success rates.
Here is the analysis that I could derive from my analysis. Almost 70% of them were picked up from various backgrounds who had little or no idea about the product they are going to sell, but had the ability to drive or lead conversations naturally with not too much of an effort. These were the guys who were up and running and hit the floor live in a shorter stint as they just needed product training and not pitches! Speaking of which, do you remember the movie Wolf of Wall Street? In the movie, the first set of people Leonardo DiCaprio started his business with were really projected as born sales guys with different backgrounds. (Don’t go on what Leo was selling in the movie as; I am focusing on the guys he hired :))
That is what I exactly did with 70% of my sales team (as mentioned above), they required training materials which mainly focused on product knowledge, and use of sales acceleration technology such as CRM. I basically hired them on the basis of my sales instinct! Which actually worked well for me. And then you just need to keep polishing the team by providing continuous training on product and sales skills to take the individuals to the next level in driving revenue for my business.
A note-able trait of a born sales person is that he is self-driven and will not require a constant push. That is the guy you will love to have in your team. He is self-driven and can drive his team along to the top of the ladder! People who can be persuasive, convincing and out-and-out charming at the drop of a hat are sure to be inside sales rockstar.
The rest 30% of my team was hired since they showed some amount of potential and industry knowledge. They were trained extensively and perpetually on building their sales skills which took more time when compared to product training. I wouldn’t say that they are doing bad and I still love to have them in my team (as some of the sales are just product knowledge driven and basic sales skills should suffice), but it took time to inherit sales skills and start delivering results. Their confidence took time to build in selling which was also driven by extensive sales training starting from basics – not required for others.
Having said that a salesman from birth, meaning that a person who is born with the skills and talent to be a sales person exists; can that be a defining factor for him to be your Inside Sales Rockstar?
In my opinion and experience in sales in building and mentoring large teams over all these years; I believe that there exists a natural born seller, if you are not lucky enough to find one then make one!
I wouldn’t say that training isn’t required for born sales guys as a wise sales person once said-
Selling is like sports: It’s great to have the natural ability, but it is the combination of extreme desire, education, and experience that makes a champion
There are not many formal sales degree’s, masters programs or PhD’s available that can teach you to sell but there sure are plenty of trainers who can teach you from their experience in the field.
I do not have a magic potion nor am I offering a formula through this blog, but I do hope that my experience and insight can help you. I must mention that there is no alternative to experience as experience is a major chunk of what a sales person is made of.
To conclude I want to share a quote that has remained with me for years; It was W.Clement Stone’s line-
Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman- not the attitude of the prospect
