How to Be a Good Salesman

30 years ago, the insurance industry started an intensive program within the agencies in order to find a solution to the problem of low turnover rates due to expenses and waste. As a result of 30 years of research and millions of dollars spent, 50% more turnover was achieved in the first year and 80% more at the end of the first three years.

So, why were these turnover rates not achieved in the past? We do not have clear information on this subject, but the reasons include:

Significant amounts of money paid as salary to new salespeople, commissions paid on them, additional expenses, etc. like money paid to salespeople and wasted money even if they can't sell. 

The staggering costs of wasting time, money and effort in selecting, hiring, training and supervising men who are incapable of being successful in their jobs.

Failed sales, abandoned business, loss of reputation, demoralization, lost market shares, etc. large expenses incurred.

So, what is the main reason for this inadequacy, which is costing companies a lot?

Store owners, who rent expensive shops, carefully select the products they will sell, arrange the windows with great care, and spend thousands of lira on advertising. However, they employ salespeople who lack the ability to listen to customers, annoy them, and do their best to keep them from coming back!

The main reason, according to research, is that companies don't know why one man can sell and the other doesn't. The vast majority of those in the sales business are unable to sell. If sales efficiency were maximized in America, the important problem of today, wasting money and labor would be minimized. Further, a detailed analysis would have been made of what is actually selling and what needs to be done to increase sales effectiveness. If we want real answers, we need to delve into and take a closer look at the mysteries of psychology and personality analysis.

The reason we did fieldwork in this field for seven years is to develop better sales methods. In the rest of the article, based on the knowledge we have gained as a result of our research, we will examine the basic characteristics necessary for a seller to make successful sales. 

In addition, the information we obtained from the same research proves that we are moving in the right direction. See our article below for a detailed explanation.

How to Be a Good Seller?

The Role of High Empathy and Ego in Ensuring Sales Success.

Our basic theory is that a good salesperson should have at least two key traits: empathy and ego.

Sensing Ability: Empathy, which is the ability to understand the feelings of the other person, is a feature that we must have in order to sell products or services to people. A person can understand the feelings of the other person even if they do not share the same feelings, but a salesperson cannot make a sale if he does not empathize with his customer and get positive approval from him.

This is the description of a salesperson who lacks empathy. If the salesperson does his best to hit the target, that is, to make the sale, but the target (customer) gives up on buying with an unexpected move, the target is missed.

Need for Achievement: The second trait a good salesperson must have is ego. Accordingly, it is not money that drives the seller to make a sale. In reality, successful salespeople see the sale as a victory and thus satisfy their ego. When they triumph, they see themselves in the giant mirror, and when they fail, they see themselves as a dwarf.

Because of the nature of sales, salespeople experience more failure than success. Because of their high egos, they can't stand to go like this for long, as failure will hurt their self-confidence. Failure creates motivation and triggers greater efforts. When success is finally achieved, the expected becomes reality and the ego enjoys reaching the top once again. The ego is self-balanced. Instead of being devastated by failure, he is strong enough to be motivated by it and looks for ways to get back on his feet.

An empathetic salesperson rich in ego is effectively on target and sells

Balance

A balance must be struck between ego and empathy, so that the salesperson understands the customer's needs and sells with great enthusiasm. The unity of empathy and ego leads to the emergence of different possibilities. One salesperson may have high empathy and ego, while another salesperson may have both low, or one may have high empathy with low ego, and the other may have low empathy.

For example:

Salesperson with high ego and empathy: These salespeople are among the best. 

Low-ego, high-empathy salesperson: These salespeople may be great people, but they cannot make successful sales. These are nice and kind people. Everyone loves them and on the face of it he seems like one of the best, but he just can't be. Even though people love it, they choose to shop from the other store. He is mostly hired for his good qualities, but his selling skills are weak. He gets along well with the customer, understands him and brings him to the purchasing stage, but does not have the inner strength to make the customer take that step and complete the sale. In the last stage of the sale, called closing, empathy alone does not work, and in this case, the ego appears as the most necessary element with its powerful effect. 

Salesperson with high ego and low empathy: These people can make some sales with the pressure they put on the customer, but this is insufficient. They harm the employer because they miss customers because of their lack of understanding. 

Salesperson with low ego and empathy: These people should not be in sales. However, most of the current salespeople are from this group. If employers have this information, they will not employ, train and support men who do not have the basic dynamics of success.

Reasons for Tests to Fail

Since the most successful salespeople are in the minority, no proper method has yet been developed that allows us to effectively select such worthy men.

For more than fifty years, psychologists have done important work in the field of testing. All aspects of people's personality, behavior, thoughts and abilities have been scrutinized by the testers. Some notable success has been achieved in tests of IQ and mechanical skills. In recent years, personality tests performed by applying projective techniques have provided a certain level of progress. Talent consists of personality dynamics rather than simple mechanical skills, and the area we know the least about so far is aptitude tests.

Sales skill is a non-mechanical skill and completely human-specific, and measurement attempts on this subject are inconclusive. While the reasons for failing to create a test for selling ability are numerous, there are four main reasons:

1. Tests are organized by interests, not talent

Evaluating a person's abilities according to their interests is the biggest reason why tests fail. In addition, the tests are created on the basis of successful salespeople or businessmen in every field, and since the answers of the people who participated in the test are in parallel with the successful people used in creating the test, it is assumed that they will also be successful sellers.

While this assumption seems plausible, it is wrong when applied to real life. According to the science of psychology, interests cannot be an indicator of abilities. In other words, if a person has the same interests as successful salespeople, it doesn't mean they can become a salesperson. Just because he wants to sell is not a sign that he will be a good salesperson.

2. Tests are prone to highly misleading answers

During the interview, a job applicant tells the employer what he wants to hear. Since the job applicant isn't stupid, he tries to make himself look like someone he isn't by presenting himself as a good salesperson. He says that although he likes to stay at home and read, he likes to be in a social activity, attends parent-teacher meetings instead of listening to the music he likes, or leads a discussion group instead of scouting. There are guides on the Internet for getting high marks on sales aptitude tests, but a person of average intelligence will quickly grasp which answers will get high marks without the need for these guides, and answer the test as desired. Tests are so useless that they make even the most incapable of them seem capable. In other words, they are not reliable due to their vulnerability to fraud. During the interview, the employer does a much better job than the tests, which are far from reflecting the facts.

3. Group work is accepted in the tests, individual creativity is not approved

Recent criticisms of psychological tests are negative. Standard approaches in tests conducted in sales or other fields are denounced and it is said that the tests judge the participants in one way, and it is questioned how the appropriateness of the answers will be determined. Such a critical approach is quite appropriate.

Free-spirited, creative minds with original ideas are eliminated from business life because of these tests, because the tests encourage group work. He considers those who are not inclined to group work, and those who do not submit to authority and fearlessly oppose their superiors when necessary, as unsuccessful.

Sadly, the cowardly, timid, authority-dependent employees that the tests approve can be good servants or supervisors, or even paperwork managers, but they can never be successful salesmen.

These tests not only screen out good salespeople, but also high-end sellers with original ideas, high intelligence, and creativity who are characterized as weak and weird.

We faced a similar situation when working with a client of mine. A company in Istanbul was looking for a large number of vendors to recruit. We have passed many tests of applicants. After examining the 20 tests that came to our office, we asked the sales manager what criteria he adhered to while eliminating male candidates who answered the test, and we learned that the candidates were given a sales skill test prepared by them a few years ago, instead of the tests we prepared. Those who scored high in their test were also given our test.

We had previously reviewed the company's test and knew that the test measures the ability to speak effectively and, to a degree, intelligence and comprehension. Gentlemen with high egos scored low on the company's test. Therefore, the male candidates with the high ego trait we are looking for have been eliminated. We then suggested to the sales manager that they should stop doing their company's test and that candidates should only look at their presentability and references, and give our test to those who passed this stage. After that the results were just as we expected and one in five male candidates passed the test.

4. The tests focus on some specific characteristics rather than evaluating the candidates as a whole

Most personality and aptitude tests serve to reveal people who have certain characteristics in terms of approach and structure. According to these tests, personality is measured by the combination of a bunch of traits. While someone is good at social relations, they may lack self-confidence and leadership. Another person may be good at self-confidence but poor at cooperation. For this reason, tests are insufficient to measure personality. According to many modern psychologists, personality is a collection of mathematically partitioned traits.

Based on this idea, a salesperson with the personality traits of a good scout; Although he is very social, leader, friendly, responsible, honest and loyal, he can be a bad salesperson. Adhering to these dynamics, it is not possible to measure whether people are suitable for being a successful seller.

In our research, we bypassed personality traits and turned to some central dynamics that we believe underlie sales ability. Accordingly, when we did in-depth research and narrowed down the options in determining the characteristics that a successful salesperson should have, we largely avoided the fraudulent tests, because it was difficult for the test takers to understand what was essentially sought in the questions posed to them.

Thus, in the tests, areas of interest, which were considered as one of the important factors in determining a good salesperson, lost their importance. Instead, it focused on identifying some characteristic features. We prepared the test by creating a model such as what qualities are required to be a good salesperson and what are the ways to identify these characteristics, rather than based on a pattern of how good salespeople answer the following questions. By working on these dynamics, we believe that we have developed the right method to reveal the successful salespeople of the future, by doing what has not been done before.

The importance of experience has lost its effect

Most sales managers seek salespeople who are experienced with the product being sold. This is true in a way. It is natural that there are large differences in education and experience between a salesperson who sells data processing equipment and a salesperson who sells cars. For this reason, it is obvious that the desired characteristics of the sellers sought in both sectors will be different. It is already understood whether the candidates meet the qualifications required by the job by looking at their resumes, but there is a point that cannot be understood. It is whether the person has basic sales dynamics that allow us to predict whether he or she will be able to sell successfully regardless of the product he is selling.

To date, we have worked with more than 7000 salespeople. Some of them were selling products, some of them were selling services. Some of the retailers were selling luxury products while others were selling cheap products. Success dynamics are more or less the same in all options. Sales ability is the basis of sales and is more important than the product being sold. Successful salespeople develop the skills necessary for selling during their childhood and adolescence, before they know the product they will sell in the future. When the qualities gained from childhood are combined with experience and when empathy and ego are added to it, we are faced with the successful salesman of the future.

Experience is not enough to be a successful salesperson. For example, an experienced salesperson who thinks that he can do miracles in his new job that no one else can do, constantly crushes his colleagues. Yet such a miracle rarely happens. The seller is what he was before. Companies are looking for people who have basic sales skills. Experience is not that important. Somehow it is earned, but true selling talent is not so easily acquired.

It doesn't matter whether he is a butcher, a mine or a steel worker or even an unemployed person; One in ten people has the potential to become a top-ranking A salesperson and lives unaware of it. One in five people has the potential to become a B or higher class seller, applicable to each sales area. Many of these people can be better salespeople than seasoned salespeople who have spent years selling.

Sure, most mountain men in overalls and cloth shoes aren't likely to be top-notch salespeople, but their lack of experience doesn't mean they have the potential to be top salespeople. Likewise, most of the good-looking, that is, presentable men, cannot be expected to be high-class salespeople. The key question here is: “Does this guy have the internal dynamics found in a successful salesperson?”

Past experiences prevent us from seeing the truth. Emphasizing experience often leads to poor sales success. A growing company employs its employees in all departments, regardless of their experience. Thus, employees do well in their departments. However, most companies do not choose the way of using their employees in an effective and appropriate way, citing experience.

For example: A company in the financial leasing business consulted us about whether it was necessary to dismiss these people, saying that forty-two employees could not exceed the ordinary in their sales and that there was a conflict between their men.

We looked at everyone's test results, we looked at the organizational chart, we took a closer look at each of the employees, who works with whom, who is above or below whom. In this way, we uncovered the strengths and weaknesses of each department. In short, we almost took an X-ray of the company.

In the end, we decided that each of the employees should stay at their jobs. We had only three employees transferred to different departments. We have identified a person in the accounting department who has both management and very good sales skills. He was not satisfied with his job. That's why we took him from there and assigned him to a place that was more suitable for his abilities. We appointed him as the company's new sales manager.

A middle-aged employee turned out to be a grade B salesperson and a grade A office manager. His empathy was high, but his ego was not strong. Therefore, he was a B-class salesperson, not an A-level salesperson, but possessed some qualities that a good manager lacks in a salesperson. He had the ability to deal with details, the ability to establish authority, and the ability to think quickly and accurately. These qualities and high empathy gave him the potential to be an excellent manager. He couldn't just be a sales manager. His low ego was an obstacle to his success. That's why we appointed him as office manager. He adapted perfectly to the position he was raised in.

The former office manager was a responsible person with attention to detail, but had low empathy. Therefore, he did not get on well with his staff. We assigned him to the accounting department. He had previous accounting experience. So he could focus all his attention on the details rather than the people.

More important than experience is the skills of the employees. Whether a new hire or a former employee, everyone should work in the field where they will be most creative and productive.

The role of education in being a good salesperson.

Steel, mine, textile worker or Mr. Khadam. No matter how big sales talent people may be, none of them can suddenly start selling insurance policies, mutual funds, electronics, or cars. Each of them must undergo training. Companies invest heavily to create effective training programs. People with high sales potential become great salespeople by learning to reveal their potential through the training program they receive.

It is very difficult to find Class A salespeople without training. Even after going through long and expensive training, employees do not make much progress if they are placed in the wrong area. In such cases, the trainer or even the training program is blamed, and in some cases training programs are withdrawn and trainers fired. But most of the time, neither the training program nor the trainer is faulty. The reason why educational programs fail is that they have undertaken an impossible task. Even the most skilled jewelers cannot create a diamond from a piece of coal.

Let me give an example. About few years ago, an international company invested heavily in launching a great company-wide training program. At the end of two years, the results of the program were evaluated. It was seen that at that time of the year, the expected sales from that sector could not be exceeded.

Investments made for that training program were completely wasted. Therefore, the training program was terminated. Six months later, we were called in by management to review the sales team and figure out why the popular training program had failed.

The reason was very clear. In the eighteen-man sales team, there was only one Class A salesperson, who had increased sales significantly after the training program. The two men were Class B salespeople, and they had made progress with their training. The remaining fifteen men were C- and D-class salesmen and should not have been salesmen because they lacked the qualities required of a good salesperson. They were rigid, stubborn, and most importantly, devoid of empathy. These types of men cannot benefit from any training program. It was useless trying to train those fifteen men.

The necessity of education is indisputable. Today, in highly competitive markets, getting employees to the maximum level of productivity is paramount. In order to provide effective training to employees, it is necessary to develop the most modern methods, but training only works when the right employees are selected. Just as certain scientific methods are used in the products produced in the factory, scientific methods should be used when choosing a recruiter.

Sellers play an important role in company success

Today, we need more empathetic and high-ego sellers in order to be able to sell effectively, as it will appeal to different cultures in the global market. That's why we need to find, train, and retain good salespeople.

Terms of finding the best salespeople

The industry should also improve itself in terms of finding the best salespeople. The mistakes that have been made so far are confusing attention with talent, fraudulent aptitude tests, looking at fitness over creativity, and looking at only certain features of a man instead of looking at the whole. Let us remind you that experience is not that important if empathy and ego are high in a seller.

Therefore, such candidates should not be ignored and allowed to become successful sellers. Training only works when the seller has high sales potential. If we want to reduce the high cost of workforce loss, one of the most important problems in the industry, we must give due consideration to empathy and ego in order to choose better vendors rationally.