Morison Cogen LLP

Accounting, Audit & Tax Services

Client Portal | Secure Upload267.440.3000

  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • Why Choose Us
    • Partners
    • Managers
    • Partners Emeritus
  • Services
    • Accounting
    • Audit
    • Tax
    • Financial Management
  • News and Posts
    • Business
    • Employer
    • ETRA
    • Federal Tax Posts
    • Individual Tax
    • Not for Profit
    • Small Business Tax
    • Featured
  • Contact Us Today
    • Join Our Mailing List
  • Morison Global

November 29, 2019

3 key traits of every successful salesperson

Take a mental snapshot of your sales staff. Do only a few of its members consistently bring in high volumes of good margin sales? An old rule of thumb says that about 20% of salespeople will make 80% of sales; in other words, everyone’s not going to be a superstar.

However, you can create performance management standards that raise the productivity of your sales department and, in turn, the profitability of your company. To do so, focus on the three key traits of every successful salesperson:

1. Authentic aptitude. Some people are “born to sell” while others, with hard work, can become proficient at it. But if a person struggles to form relationships, has no tolerance for rejection or failure, and desires a routine workday, he or she probably doesn’t belong in sales.

You may want to use a sales aptitude test during the hiring process to weed out those most likely doomed to failure. But it’s always possible to hire someone with “potential” who just never grows into the position. If an employee lacks the aptitude for sales, no amount of training and coaching will likely turn him or her into a stellar performer. In such cases, you’ll need to choose between either moving the person into another area of the business or letting him or her go.

2. Effective tactics. Entire books could be written (and have been) about sales tactics. There’s the hard sell, the soft sell, upselling, storytelling, problem solving — the list goes on. At the end of the day, customers buy from people whom they like and trust — and who can deliver what they promise.

Doing the little things separates those at the top of the sales profession from everyone else and helps them build lasting and fruitful relationships with customers. Identify the most valuable tactics of your top sellers and pass them along to the rest of the staff through ongoing training and upskilling.

3. Strong numbers. There’s no way around it: A good salesperson puts up the numbers. Sales is a results-oriented profession. The question and challenge for business owners (and their sales managers) is how to accurately and fairly measure results and ultimately define success.

There are many sales metrics to consider. Which ones you should track and use to evaluate the performance of your salespeople depends on your strategic priorities. For example, if you’re looking to speed up the sales cycle, you could look at average days to close. Or, if you’re concerned that your sales department just isn’t bringing in enough revenue, you could calculate average deal size.

Hopefully, everyone on your sales staff demonstrates these three key traits to some degree. If not, regular performance reviews (to catch problems) and effective coaching (to solve them) are a must. We can help you identify the ideal metrics for your company, run the numbers, and set reasonable and profitable revenue goals.

© 2019


Filed Under: Business, Featured

Recent News and Posts

Be alert!

2022 tax calendar

Was your US Tax Court session scheduled to be live?

The ABCs of activity-based costing

Are you eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit?

News and Posts by Category

  • Business
  • Employer
  • ETRA
  • Featured
  • Federal Tax Posts
  • Individual Tax
  • Not for Profit
  • Small Business Tax
  • tax
  • Tax Tips

Items of Interest

Merger Announced!

Morison Global Press Release

Tax Planning Guide

Global Tax Insights

Peer Review Letter

CPA-USA Association

Join Our Mailing List

About Morison Cogen

Morison Cogen LLP is a full-service certified public accounting, tax, and business consulting firm serving private and public companies, not-for-profit organizations, and the personal accounting needs of individuals in the U.S. and around the world....read more

Get Connected

Morison Cogen LLP
484 Norristown Road, Suite 100
Blue Bell, PA 19422

P: 267.440.3000
F: 267.440.3001
E: info@morisoncogen.com

Copyright © 2022 Morison Cogen LLP