The Most Important Sales Characteristic

Last week I wrote that the most important prospecting skill is that of pre-call research. If there was just one thing that I could teach any print sales rep, I told you, that would be it.

If I was limited to just one skill, it would be diligence. In all my years as a sales trainer (or as a sales rep, for that matter), I have never met or heard of a diligent sales failure.

I have trained some of the least natural-born-salespeople that you can imagine. They are not in possession of the fabled sales gene, nor have they been visited by the Sales Genie.

But what they lack in ability, they more than make up for with drive.

Of skill, experience, technical ability, and tenacity, I will take tenacity any day. Whether they are motivated by fear, money, passion, or all three, the diligent sales rep succeeds 100 percent of the time.

Sadly, tenacity cannot be taught. Diligence can be difficult to sustain. The best that most of us can hope for is pleasant persistency.

But for the Chosen Few in whom burn the fire of desire, "no" is heard as "tell me more." They break down barriers and obstacles. They ignore objections. And they don’t let things as trivial as lack of sales ability get in their way. Even the Tasmanian Devil is envious of their energy.

If you employ this kind of sales rep, do everything you can to keep him or her in the field. If you are this kind of sales rep…

Actually, as I think about it, there’s no need to finish that sentence. The diligent sales rep isn’t reading my blog. The diligent sales rep is making sales calls on the customers of the people who are.

Bill Farquharson is a Vice President at NAPL. His training programs can drive the sales of print reps and selling owners. Check out his Sales Resources page and contact him at (781) 934-7036 or bfarquharson@napl.org.