What Makes a Salesperson a Good Salesperson?

Can you reliably identify great salespeople during the hiring process? What are the key traits and competencies that make a successful salesperson, and what tools can help you identify those who will deliver the best results? Read Barbora Daňková’s article to find out what the data says.

Almost every company employing salespeople occasionally struggles with reliably identifying candidates who will go on to truly excel in the role after being hired. And because sales candidates, in particular, can sell themselves better than others in interviews, companies are looking for tools to help them make that selection. Psychodiagnostics is one such tool.

But what qualities should successful salespeople have? What are the key traits and characteristics that should be measured? Will a more successful salesperson be an extrovert, because they are talkative and enjoy interacting with people, or an introvert, because they are good listeners and ask insightful questions? There are many different opinions about what the ideal salesperson should be. Even the data does not provide a definitive answer, but it does suggest that some traits are more universally common among successful salespeople. For example, assertiveness and a strong focus on results. However, the extent to which certain traits are beneficial—and in combination with what other qualities—varies significantly depending on the industry, company focus, and sales style.

Map Out and Verify the Assumptions Within the Existing Sales Team

So as a first step, you can map your existing sales team and use it to check the aptitudes of the people who are doing better in the role. The following case situation shows the differences between successful and unsuccessful salespeople in a Czech company that is a market leader in its field and that delivers tailored products and services to its customers.

Initially, a comprehensive battery of psychodiagnostic questionnaires was selected to evaluate personality profiles, work styles, motivation, assertiveness, and stress management capabilities.

Two criteria were chosen to determine who is a successful salesperson. One was the manager’s evaluation and the other was the turnover achieved. Only salespeople who had been with the company for at least one year—and thus had sufficient experience and were no longer affected by the steep learning curve—were included in the subsequent analysis.

Given the relatively small size of the sales team (fewer than 50 people), a combined approach of case studies and data analysis was selected. This confirmed that the most important factor for success is the aforementioned experience. In terms of turnover, up to 50% of the traders’ performance depended on the length of experience. For the manager’s evaluation, even 60%. In this particular case, it can be said that the longer people work as salespeople in a company, the more turnover they have and the better they are evaluated by their manager. Unfortunately, this information is of little practical use for recruitment itself. It only says that it is very advantageous to hire a salesperson with experience in the same position, with the same type of product and market. What else did the data show?

Extravert or Introvert?

First and foremost, it turns out that whether a salesperson is an extrovert or an introvert doesn’t really matter in this case—neither in terms of sales nor in terms of manager perception. The team includes salespeople from both ends of the spectrum, with no significant difference in performance between the two. In general, personality traits are not a decisive factor for salespeople in this particular company. However, the truth is that the successful and highly rated salespeople here tend to be more assertive, results-oriented, rational, and factual. Empathy, relationship orientation, perspective taking, or a low need for closure were found to be disadvantages. However, the data also showed that this should not be taken as a rule.

Similarly, the working style of this group of salespeople has an indicative effect on performance rather than being a clear determinant. A tendency to improvise and react to situations proved to be less advantageous, while stable performance over time and discipline led to better results and ratings.

How Do They Handle Pressure and Stress?

Interesting results came from mapping the way salespeople cope with pressure. Salespeople with lower performance tend to be more self-reflective, cautious, responsible, and accepting of failure. Paradoxically, these traits can hinder their effectiveness, as can lower self-control, independence, or self-motivation. Successful salespeople, therefore, can be characterized as more “go-getters” who are not discouraged by failures and generally show a greater ability to maintain mental well-being despite the situation.

Key Characteristics of Successful Salespeople

The most convincing results, however, came from the last two methods. The first of these – the Communication Style – Assertiveness Questionnaire—focuses on mapping assertiveness skills and immediately reveals a significant difference between high-performing and low-performing salespeople. Salespeople with low turnover exhibited very low levels of assertiveness. The most noticeable difference between less and more successful salespeople lies especially in the ability to stand their ground and assert themselves. When it comes to assertiveness, it does not matter how high it is, as even extremely high scores do not guarantee better results, but it must not be critically low.

The second method that most effectively differentiated between successful and unsuccessful salespeople was the Career Compass, which focuses on motivation. For high-performing salespeople, the dominant motivator was reward, followed by successful outcomes. When it comes to role preferences, the roles of SALESMAN and EXECUTOR clearly prevailed. In contrast, for low-performing salespeople, the need for cooperation and the role of TEAM PLAYER dominated.

The results of the diagnostic used showed that certain traits and prerequisites are more common among successful salespeople. Most importantly, they possess the right motivation and assertiveness.

If a company consistently struggles with identifying successful salespeople or wants to enhance its hiring process, using targeted diagnostics to map key success traits within its current team is certainly helpful. This approach can significantly improve the selection of new salespeople.