What Makes a Great Salesperson? http://www.inc.com/ss/what-makes-great-salesperson#2

Passion for the Product

"I look for passion for the product—and I don’t think that’s something that you can fake," says Selena

Cuffe who, with her husband Khary, runs Heritage Link Brands. The Los Angeles, California business

imports wine made by locally-owned vineyards in Africa. "As a salesperson, you are up against a lot of

no's, a lot of reasons people can’t take the product, and you have to convince them. You can’t do that in a

slimy way. You can’t fulfill that need if it’s just about the money or meeting the numbers. Passion is what

creates the ability to meet your customers’ needs on the scene and get the sale."

Great Listening Skills

"The people who are the most successful are the ones who listen most closely to the customer," says

Enterprise Rent-A-Car CEO Andy Taylor. "We follow the two ears, one mouth rule here." For example,

when the St. Louis, Missouri-based company considered implementing a carbon-offsets program in the US

and Canada, Taylor and his sales staff had one major concern: would the customers like it? Concerned that

renters would think the program was simply money in the company’s pockets, Enterprise will put its money

where its mouth is by matching up to $1 million in donations.

Understanding Early Adopters

Tan Le is no stranger to questioning what’s possible. When she was four, her family fled Vietnam with

nothing; by 26, she was a leading Australian entrepreneur. But with Emotiv, her latest venture, she hopes to

make science fiction into reality. The company hopes to develop a mind-reading device—something most

people don’t believe really exists and aren’t too sure they want even if it does—into the next Nintendo Wii.

For this sort of innovative product, the best salesperson is "one who understands the customer," Le says.

"The reality for us is our customer profile will change as our product changes. The salesperson would need

to understand the new and innovative nature of the product. It’s not a utility at this point, it’s an experience.

It’s about fulfilling this fantasy of magic, controlling the universe with your mind. The initial market is a

hard-core early adopter—but as the product changes, they will need to be able to adapt."

Perfect Execution

Rick Alden built Skullcandy, which sells hip headphones popular with action sports stars, on his core

customers' devotion to a brand and the lifestyle it represents. His salespeople don’t have to be

snowboarders, but he does expect them to embody the company's cultural DNA. The job demands equal

enthusiasm for the product and for meeting clients' needs. "A good salesperson is passionate about the

brand of Skullcandy and the uniqueness of the product," he says, "and then someone with perfect

execution, who does what they say they will do and delivers what they say they will deliver. No buyer

should ever be left hoping their salesperson will come through."

Being Trusted by the Customer

Jake Nickell, founder, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, chief creative officer, are the corporate directors of

Threadless, but it would be fair to say the customers are running the show. This T-shirt company is at the

forefront of user innovation--a fancy term that means the site’s visitors submit shirt designs, community

members vote on them, and Threadless produces and sells the winning entries. Who, in their view, is the

ideal salesperson for their kind of company? "Somebody’s best friend," says Nickell. He's not kidding. "In

a community-based business, people learn about you from their friends, not from a salesperson or an

advertisement," Kalmikoff says.

Bottom Line: Can They Get the Order?

Fred Franzia doesn’t believe in complicating either wine or business. Forget romance: the founder of the

Bronco Wine Company and the creator of "Two Buck Chuck" hopes to offer his customers decent wine at a

bargain price. "Number one is, can they get the order and collect the money? Number two is product

knowledge and the ability to talk about it in terms that translate to normal people. People have a tendency

to create too much mystery around wine."