Top Characteristics of High Performing B2B Sales People

Top Business to Business Salespeople……

Exhibit Professionalism

High Performing Business to Business salespeople are effective communicators. They are intelligent, highly motivated and competitive professionals, who are liked by their customers and peers as well as management. They are optimistic in face of adversity. They genuinely love their work, and are steadfast in doing what they say they will do.

Are Competent Problem Solvers

They use creative questioning to provoke critical thinking. They listen intently to customer responses. They confirm needs and help the customer visualize the potential impact and value their solution will have on the organization.

Have a Winning Attitude

High performing salespeople are intensely goal and plan driven. They zero in on opportunities to WIN. They make next steps happen to ensure progress in the sales cycle. They are curious learners who recognize that winning begins first with their own way of thinking and positive outlook.

Understand the Importance of Value

They communicate value by their in-depth understanding of the customer’s business and by their compelling product knowledge. They are strategic orchestrators, recognizing that superior value arises through the integration of all the resources the organization can bear on the customer’s business issues or challenges.

Have Passionate Work Habits

Top salespeople are enthusiastic self-starters with a strong commitment to exceed a customer’s expectations. They are idea generators and innovative change agents whose zeal for accomplishment becomes contagious with the customer and within their own selling teams.

Continuously Focus on the Customer

Highly successful salespeople recognize that the customer drives the relationship. They see things from the customer’s viewpoint in balance with their own organization’s requirements. They are diligent in calculating the financial benefit of the solution they recommend to ensure the customer’s acceptance of the value being offered. They build relationships with a cross section of key players by understanding what drives them and how they make buying decisions. Top performing salespeople help customers succeed both professionally and personally.

Are Always Prepared

A key trait of high performing salespeople is their meticulous planning for every customer contact. They research the company and industry to identify trends, assess competitive presence, and establish a sense for the organization’s vision and culture. They know that while the customer interaction may shift during the course of a sales call, their deep preparation provides them with confidence, ultimately earning the customer’s respect and trust.

Develop Skills Mastery

Superior salespeople are proficient and comfortable interacting with all levels of a customer’s organization. They practice relentlessly and continually ask for balanced feedback from their coaches on how they communicate and interact. They ask their managers and fellow salespeople to work with them, knowing that feedback is the basis for skills mastery. And perhaps most importantly, superior salespeople “teach” whenever opportunities present themselves. They know that providing insight and help to their colleagues and less experienced sales professionals enhances and deepens their own knowledge.

Are Process Centered

Knowingly or unknowingly, superior sales professionals follow a sales process. They understand all the key events and milestones in the sales cycle that lead to the final sale. They have learned not to focus on the end result right away, but on each progressive step in the sales cycle. They avail themselves of all the skills and tools to help them transition from one milestone to the next, and they know when and how to orchestrate management and other team members in order to move the process forward.

Measure Their Progress

Successful salespeople know that what gets measured has a higher probability of getting done, and so they welcome both results and activity measures as a guide. They see process, activity, and results metrics as tools. They recognize that tracking progress provides them with the feedback needed to adjust their course along the way to achieving their goals.

Are Called “Trusted Advisors”

Top salespeople treat each customer uniquely. When they help the customer think and frame the issues they are facing, when there is mutual respect, when they do the right thing, and when they earn the customer’s genuine trust and confidence, they then are called “Trusted Advisors.”

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