Are You and a Sales Career a Match? At our Center for Global Sales Leadership at Indiana University, Bloomington, we are always searching for thought-provoking sales findings, particularly when they appear to be grounded in scientific-based research methodologies that are useful to the sales practitioner. We may have discovered one of these—at least from the viewpoint that it merits discussion. It seems like the sales profession is continually asking itself three key questions: 1) Can anyone succeed in a sales career? 2) What makes a successful salesperson? 3) Who should I promote from salesperson to sales manager? One sales study by the Gallup Research Organization, conducted over a 30-year period, offered some interesting insights into these three questions. First question: Can anyone sell? According to Gallup, that is probably not the case. Just like all people can’t be surgeons, nuclear physicists or CPA’s. For most sales practitioners, it is doubtful if there would be too much pushback regarding this particular finding. Second question: What makes a successful salesperson? According to Gallup, there are three criteria. A top sales performer tends to: Leverage your strengths not weaknesses Ensure strengths map to the particular job Work for a great manager The point-of-view of Gallup’s findings is that each of us has particular ‘signature strengths’ or talents that he or she might not even recognize because these talents come so natural and easy. In the end, their research study discovered that salespeople were more likely to be successful when they focused more development time on their inherent strengths while being satisfied with putting damage control on their areas of weaknesses. Therefore, according to Gallup’s research, if a person knows their strengths, develops their strengths and tries to find a position that maps to these strengths they are well on their road to success. However, Gallup claims that the third criterion is also advised if you are to be truly successful. You must have a great manager. Their research study revealed that top managers were able to motivate, manage and coach their people more effectively to higher performance levels. Third Question: Who should I promote to sales manager? Interestingly, Gallup turned to the actual interview responses. The more successful managers leaned toward wanting the job because they liked developing people, teamwork, and performing as a team. People who wanted others to sell like themselves were less desirable as managers because they often inhibited others from leveraging their own strengths. Canada can be reached by e-mail at rcanada@dartmouthgroup.com. Quote: … one should strongly ask if negotiation is being used as a substitute for effective selling skills. back to article listings