“Six qualities of superstar sales people”

We all want to hire superstar sales people.  Finding one, however, is more difficult than you can imagine.

Here’s the key to spotting and hiring a superstar salesperson.  Don’t be sidetracked by what he/she knows relative to products or industries, and don’t be blinded by how he or she looks.  Instead, concentrate on who he/she is.

These six qualities of character that mark superstar salespeople of any industry all describe who they are, not what they know.

Let’s consider each one.

The first on my list may surprise you.  INTEGRITY.

That’s right.  Integrity.  According to the dictionary, integrity is “uprightness of character, probity (virtue tested and confirmed), honesty.”

I believe that this “tested uprightness and honesty” ought to be the first quality we look for in salespeople.  From time immemorial, people have appreciated and wanted to deal with honest people.  That holds true today.

Put yourself in the place of your potential customer. Or, look at your behavior when you are the buyer, not the seller.  Don’t you appreciate an honest vendor?  Aren’t you drawn to the supplier who you know will treat you honestly and fairly?  Fast talkers will come and go. Hard closers will get some business and create some ill will, experts in product knowledge will help us understand, but the thing that draws us to do business with a person, more than anything else, is that person’s integrity. We know that we will be dealt with fairly and honestly.

So, if it’s integrity to which we are attracted when we are purchasing something, doesn’t it make sense that our customers and prospects will also be drawn to a person of integrity?  That’s the first, and most important reason for looking for integrity in our future salespeople.

But there are some other more selfish reasons, too.  For instance, if you hire someone of integrity, you can feel certain that person will deal with you, as his/her employer, with integrity also.  And that means that you can expect honest representation of your product and company, that you won’t have to worry about shoddy or corrupt dealing ruining your reputation, and that your concerns for bribery or unethical maneuvers are gone.

So, the salesperson with integrity has a quality that draws people to him, and that makes your jobs as managers much easier.  That’s the first of six qualities of character that define the make up of a superstar sales person.

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