The market conditions for sales are changing rapidly: increasing competition, changing customer expectations, technological advances and economic uncertainty are shaping sales landscapes and increasing the need for qualified sales employees who can meet the growing challenges with confidence. Sales employees are at the heart of every company. They are the driving force when it comes to selling products or services and thus ensuring economic success.
The term salesperson or sales employee is often underestimated and all too quickly we have the image of a vacuum cleaner salesman in our heads who goes from door to door offering his products. However, sales involves much more than just the ability to sell. Sales employees build relationships, understand the needs of their customers and develop solutions that offer real added value. Their skills and commitment are essential for building sustainable business relationships and achieving long-term corporate goals. Without the right people in sales, the success of many companies would be unthinkable.
But what characterizes a good sales manager today? This blog post highlights the most important qualities that set successful sales professionals apart from the crowd and explains strategies for recognizing these qualities during the application process.
Determination
Successful employees in sales are characterized by a clear goal orientation. Sales is about consistently achieving ambitious targets and sales quotas. Determined individuals can set themselves realistic, measurable goals; they are able to formulate these goals in concrete terms and pursue them with perseverance and a systematic approach until they are achieved.
How do you recognize determination during the application process? Ask applicants to explain what their most recent goals were and what strategies and measures they used to achieve them. Ask the sales manager to give as many concrete examples as possible. In addition, questions about long-term plans, such as “Where do you see yourself in five years?” provide information about goal orientation and individual motivation to develop further.
Flexibility
Flexibility in sales is a decisive factor for success in dynamic markets. Companies must be able to adapt quickly to changing customer needs, market trends and technological developments. This requires agile processes, an open communication culture and a willingness to question established strategies. For example, flexible sales employees use digital tools to personalize customer interactions and make them more efficient. At the same time, close collaboration between sales, marketing and other departments is essential in order to exploit synergies and respond quickly to new opportunities. Ultimately, flexibility not only strengthens competitiveness, but also promotes long-term customer relationships and sustainable growth.
Flexibility can already be identified during the application process, for example by analyzing the CV and asking specific questions during the interview. A diverse CV that shows experience in different industries, positions or working methods, as well as professional or personal relocations, indicate adaptability. Further training or retraining also demonstrates a willingness to learn new things. In the interview, situational questions such as “Tell us about a situation in which you unexpectedly had to adapt to a new task or a changed environment” or “What do you do when a planned project is restructured at short notice?” provide valuable insights into the applicant's flexibility and problem-solving skills.
Resilience
Resilience describes a person's inner resistance - the ability to recover and emerge stronger despite setbacks or stressful situations.
In psychology, resilience refers to the capacity to react flexibly to stressful or difficult life circumstances. This characteristic is not innate but develops through a combination of personal experiences and environmental influences. An important factor in this respect is whether people have learned to deal constructively with successes and failures.
Setbacks and rejections are part of everyday life in sales. Resilience is therefore an important characteristic, especially for sales professionals. Resilient sales employees are not discouraged by setbacks but rather see challenges as learning opportunities to optimize their working methods and approaches and to be successful at the next attempt.
To determine an applicant's resilience, you can ask about situations in the interview in which the sales professional was unable to win over an important customer. When describing these situations, you should listen to what conclusions the candidate has drawn from these experiences and how he or she has applied these insights to future challenges.
Empathy and active listening
Empathy is also one of the driving forces behind excellent sales work. It enables sales employees to empathize with the customer's perspective, needs and problems and thus offer tailor-made solutions. Empathetic people are often particularly good listeners. Customers want to feel that their concerns are being taken seriously. By actively listening, sales managers show appreciation and create a connection that goes beyond mere transactions. A customer who feels understood is more likely to enter into a business relationship or make a purchase.
In the application process, you can recognize empathy in the way applicants talk about customers and their own approach to acquisition. Empathetic candidates show a genuine interest in understanding the perspectives and priorities of their customers and use this knowledge to develop innovative solutions. During the application process, you should also pay attention to how well the candidate listens. Without interested listening, a change of perspective cannot take place.
Sense of responsibility
A sense of responsibility is the willingness to take responsibility for one's own actions and their consequences. Sales professionals with a high sense of responsibility act with foresight, take responsibility for successes and mistakes and actively look for solutions. This characteristic strengthens trust in people and is therefore essential for sales professionals who want to build lasting customer relationships on an equal footing. In sales, a sense of responsibility means acting reliably, meeting deadlines and ensuring the quality of your own work. Employees with these qualities contribute significantly to the success of their company, especially in today's complex world, as reliability and trust are particularly important to customers when making purchasing decisions. 90 percent of respondents to a KPMG study on consumer preferences state that trust is one of the most important factors in their purchasing decisions.
To recognize a sense of responsibility during the interview, ask candidates about mistakes they have made that have affected their team or company. Candidates who can reflect honestly and self-critically show a high willingness to develop further.
Openness and interpersonal intelligence
As employees in sales are constantly interacting with customers and colleagues, openness and interpersonal skills are essential. Sales employees with strong interpersonal intelligence can more easily gain sympathy and build relationships. In this way, they create a pleasant atmosphere of trust, which is the basis for successful deals.
Observe the candidate's body language during the interview and ask about their leisure activities. People who actively seek social contact often show a natural inclination to interact - a key strength for sales success. At the same time, interpersonal intelligence can be tested through real-life examples: Ask applicants to describe a situation in which they helped a fellow human being in a difficult situation.
Power of persuasion
In sales, persuasiveness is a key skill for getting customers excited about products or services. It is based on sound specialist knowledge, empathy and the ability to build trust. A persuasive sales employee understands the needs of his customers, communicates clearly and manages to present complex benefits in an understandable way. Authenticity plays a central role here, because only those who appear credible can be convincing in the long term. It is also important to handle objections skillfully and offer solutions that provide customers with real added value. Targeted questioning techniques and active listening create a dialog that not only increases sales but also promotes long-term customer relationships too.
To test the power of persuasion during the application process, you can ask the applicant to present an idea or product as part of a short case study. Also pay attention to body language, facial expressions, gestures and voice. Persuasiveness depends heavily on a self-confident and authentic presentation.
Successful sales employees
Employees with these qualities are an asset to the sales team and the entire company. They combine determination, flexibility, resilience, empathy and active listening as well as persuasiveness, a sense of responsibility and interpersonal intelligence - qualities that promote both individual and collective success in sales. Nevertheless, there should also be room for diversity and different perspectives when putting together a team. A balanced team in which people with different strengths work together can develop innovative solutions and enrich the collaboration in the long term. It is therefore worth giving candidates a chance even if they do not have all of the aforementioned characteristics to the same degree. Talents often develop particularly well in interaction with a diverse and supportive team.