07/23/2024

Key Sales Success Traits That Require No Talent

By: John Chapin

Many of the most successful salespeople are not Rhode Scholars and they possess no particular talents or gifts. Some might say, “Well, wait, they have the gift of gab. That’s a talent.” Yes, some do, but many do not, and many are introverts who are not super-comfortable on the social scene. That said, they are still successful. The reason being is that a lot, if not all, of the most important sales success traits don’t require you to be a member of Mensa nor do they require you to be a born socialite equipped with a silver tongue. So, what are these key success traits that almost anyone from any walk of life can have? Here they are…

Trait 1: Work Ethic

You can work as hard and put in as many hours as you decide to. The most successful people in any field are the hardest workers. The most successful salespeople may not be the hardest workers in advanced evolutions of their careers, but they were when they were just starting out and building their business.

Trait 2: Grit and Determination
You can decide to have courage and resolve and be resolute in your desire to go through whatever you have to go through to come out successfully on the other side.

Trait 3: Attitude

You can decide you’re going to stay positive and have a good attitude no matter what. Sure, this may take some work especially if you tend to be negative, but ultimately your attitude is up to you. 

Trait 4: Action

We don’t always have complete control over our feelings, and our thoughts can take some practice to completely control, but the one thing we always have control over is our actions. For salespeople it’s doing enough of the necessary sales activities.

Trait 5: Persistence and Perseverance

This is the long-term version of grit. It is continuing the course no matter how much hardship there is and how long it takes. Success does not come overnight and there is a lot of rejection and failure especially at the beginning of a sales career, but if you press on no matter what, you’ll eventually come out the other side a winner.

Trait 6: Follow through and follow up

You decide whether or not you follow through both on tasks assigned directly to you and those you’ve passed off, to ensure they get done. You also decide how many times and how you follow up with someone. Most salespeople don’t follow up nearly enough.

Trait 7: Honesty, integrity, and character

This is doing the right thing, all the time. This is not making sales that shouldn’t be made. In other words, not making money at the customer’s expense. This is doing what you say you’ll do when you say you’ll do it. This is being a person of your word and keeping the promises you make.

Trait 8: Professional and Personal Growth

This is getting better at your profession while at the same time becoming a better you. You decide if you keep growing and becoming more both professionally and personally.

Trait 9: Continual learning

This is an aspect of the above trait but is more specific to developing your mind. While the above trait could include working on performing certain work tasks better or getting into better physical shape by eating better and exercising more, continual learning is about expanding your brain. It’s reading, studying, and taking courses that either help you professionally or personally.

Trait 10: Delivering more than expected, going the extra mile

You decide what level of service you provide. Do you put in extra time, effort, energy, and perhaps even money, to deliver more than people expect? Do you ‘wow’ them with your service? Putting in extra effort and going the extra mile is simply a decision.

Trait 11: Being Super-Responsive

This is responding to people as quickly as possible. It could be a text, a phone call, an email, or some other request that someone has made of you. You decide how quickly you respond whether it’s immediately, an hour or two, or 24 hours. Whatever it is, the decision is yours. Sure, there may be times when you’re on a plane or otherwise unavailable, but you decide what your rules are for how quickly you respond to people.

What’s great about the above traits is, not only will adherence to them essentially assure your success, but all of them are simply a choice, available to anyone who chooses to use them. Will it be easier if you have certain talents and abilities? Probably, but talent and special abilities are not necessary. You can decide to work hard, you can decide to keep going, you can decide to have a good attitude, you can decide to follow through and continue to follow up, you can decide to be honest, do the right thing, and not sacrifice your character, you can decide to challenge yourself and to continue to learn and to grow, you can decide to put in extra effort, and you can decide to answer emails, texts, and phone calls, and respond to other requests as quickly as possible. Sure, some of the above traits may be hard to pull off at times, or do all the time, but they require no special skills or even above average intelligence, they simply require the decision to act in accordance with them.

John Chapin

#1 Sales Rep w 34+ years’ experience, Author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia (Axiom Book Awards) – also the largest sales book on the planet (678 pages).

John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker, coach, and trainer. For his free eBook: 30 Ideas to Double Sales and monthly article, or to have him speak at your next event, go to www.completeselling.com. John has over 34 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year, Sales Encyclopedia (Axiom Book Awards). You can reprint provided you keep contact information in place.