Every sensible business owner knows that it is imperative to have a profitable and successful sales team in order for the company to achieve its professional goals. It is well worth your while to asses your salespeople's track history and selling style in order to determine who is making money for your business and who may be wasting your time. Below are the characteristics of eight types of salespeople and the varying levels of their success:
Socializers - Socializers often make a great first impression. Unfortunately, most of the time they will be making you great first impressions in lieu of money. Although their gregarious nature and ability to carry on friendly conversation about things such as children and cars may initially impress clients, they usually don't get past this, and close few deals. Encourage socializers to spend an alloted time on small talk, say less than a minute then focus on business. Let them know that it is important to be taken seriously when it comes to business and consider retraining them on the product details and closing deals.
Aggressors - Aggressors are on the opposite side of the social spectrum of socializers. Although they can score big wins, and tend not to concede too much, clients leave with a bad taste in their mouth from the aggressor's combative approach. Your typical aggressor approaches a sales meeting as a price negotiation, and just that. Consider a training workshop for your aggressors in customer service. Let them know that a happy client is a profitable one, and remind them that clients recommend other clients when they are provided excellent service.
Narrators - A narrator is a salesperson who knows what they are offering and the market well, but they find themselves rattling off the script all too often and buckle under pressure when it comes to answering challenging questions. A narrator will desperately cling to marketing materials and because of this selling doesn't seem to come naturally to them. "What if" exercises where a trainer gives a narrator hypothetical questions that a client may ask for them to answer will help them to improve their skills.
Focusers- Focusers mean well but lack the neccessary confidence to complete a sale and their anxiety causes them to insist on detailing every detail of their product. Because they are so focused on describing what they are selling, they may not hear their customer's needs. Focusers may lack confidence, but they know their products well and believe deeply in them. Extra training and encouragement can serve these salespeople well.
Storytellers - Unlike focusers, storytellers hone their attention on the customers but unfortunately have a tendency to "talk through the sale." They love to provide case studies to support what they are selling, but they may waste time in long meetings that often do not yield any results. Try to work with storytellers to develop a loose schedule for meetings with clients. Tell them to put a cap on the meeting time before it starts and allot a specific amount of time for each part of the sales pitch.
Consultants - Consultants are your salespeople that listen well and respond to your customer's problems. They develop effective solutions that meets their customers needs. Unfortunately, they lack dimension and unlike storytellers, they often forgo valuable case examples that could potentially boost sales. Encourage consultants to study marketing material and to incorporate it more into their method.
Closers - The closers will be your big sellers. Quick thinking and smooth talking, closers can pull off some very big deal but lack when it comes to service sales. Although closers sell big, their smooth talk puts some customers off. Because of this, be choosy with the leads that you give to your closers.
Experts – Experts are easy enough to identify. An expert can make a sale seem effortless. Gregarious and competent, experts are able to land a sale and keep their clients happy and returning back for more. Your experts will be making big sales, and will be consistently outperforming their peers.
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