The main qualities of a salesperson. Sales manager skills. Professional qualities highlighted by experts

04.11.2020

What are the main qualities that sales managers should have and how to develop them as a leader. Why doesn't it always work. Examples are given by our expert, business coach Andrey Karpenko

- To understand all the components of the profession, it is important for a salesperson to draw up his own plan, evaluate professional capital, “acquire” useful tools in the right areas and move forward in professional development.

The task of the leader here is to help develop these qualities.

How to develop goal setting in a salesperson

Goal setting is a clear understanding by the seller of the goals of his sales and what he wants to get as a result.

You can give your salespeople the ability to set their own sales plan. And do not tell them the final figure - let them appoint it themselves. And you, as a leader, compare the results with your preliminary ones. If sales managers set a higher plan, great. If you put up less, you correct it together with them, trying to get out of the situation and increase the results.


I note that practice shows that with the development of this quality, it is not uncommon for a manager to tell an employee to complete the maximum possible plan for him and not set minimum goals. And this is already a gross mistake. By doing this, you yourself, as a leader, give the employee an escape route in case of unsatisfactory results.

It sounds like this: "Do as much as you can!" In this case, he can always say that he did everything possible, but he did not succeed: "As much as he could, he did so much." I have had one case. The sales manager very often came to one client in the store - in order for him to place an order for new products (she placed orders automatically for the usual assortment). But the store manager didn't want to listen to information about ordering a new product. This happened because the girl set herself the goal of selling goods, including new ones, for a certain amount.

After discussing the situation, a slightly different goal was set. In fact, the girl needed to make the client listen to her. And after a two-minute conversation, move on to discussing a new product. This is much more effective than starting to sell a new product from the threshold.

How to ask questions to a client

This quality refers to finding out the needs of the client. You need to ask the right effective questions so that the client provides additional information.

Make sure that the employee can immediately write 10-15 questions that he will ask the client. If an employee creates this list, he will be able to choose 2-3 suitable for a particular client.

How do managers destroy this quality in employees? It is extremely simple - the leaders themselves do not ask them any questions. Ask yourself: “How many questions do I ask employees? Do I show them by example what to do and how to do it? Do I know how to ask questions to the client, to clarify the situation?”

If you, as a leader, only set tasks without asking questions to employees, they will copy your behavior model and, with a calm soul, coming to customers, they will sell goods to them in the same way, using the “bulldozer” model. In such a situation, employees are not ready for customer objections. They believe that you need to push harder, give more examples and evidence in order to get your product accepted.


At the same time, keep in mind that after passing the trainings that companies conduct for staff, many employees make a conclusion for themselves - it’s worth asking any questions you like, just to “fill up” the client with them. But no client will answer a bunch of questions. He will answer the first 2-4, and then ask his own, quite logical question: “What did you come with?”

How to develop the ability to influence the interlocutor

It is about working with arguments, resolving doubts and objections, closing the deal.

If you want to perform these actions well, scripts, scripts, the experience of colleagues within your company, effective sales training programs come to the rescue.

1. Just get together once with your team. Write down all speech models and then supplement them periodically. With these actions, you will create a useful knowledge base that contains answers to, for example, the 20 most common objections, arguments in favor of the product for various categories of customers, examples of what to say at the end of the transaction.

2. Call your employees and analyze work situations, isolate from them typical behaviors when dealing with objections.

3. Immediately begin to work out the solutions found. Ask the employee to repeat the necessary phrases 2, 3, 5 times until he becomes related to them.

4. Become a role model for employees. If the manager only set a goal for the employee, but never sold anything himself, then the employees will also perceive this as a kind of role model.

5. The second way to show how to act is to go with the employee “in the field” to the client, negotiate with him and make a successful deal.

You should not be too emotionally happy with your results, be smug and tell the employee something like “now you understand how this is done, next time you will repeat it.”

6. Debrief after meeting with the client. Discuss the positives and negatives as equals with the employee.

How to instill the ability to develop

In my experience, 2 out of 10 people are ready to develop themselves. The rest develop only under the coercion of the leader. Develop such a quality as self-learning in employees with care. So that they do not get tired of learning, but it is enough for professional growth. To do this, it is best to awaken in them a keen interest in personal development. For example:

  • Create a corporate library
  • Share useful films with employees
  • Once a week, make it a rule to discuss something new that you have learned, heard, read or tried out in practice.

An example from life. When at the certification the manager noted the need for personal development, instructed employees to study materials, books and trainings, a logical question followed: “Have you studied this yourself?”. The leader replied, “Why? I do not need it!".

In this case, employees usually copy the behavior of the leader, and development becomes unnecessary for them too. At the very least, optional.

Another case from practice. The manager asked me after the management training: “I really want my employees to develop, where should I start? After all, they don’t do anything at all, they don’t develop in any way, they just sell the goods.

The answer is simple - start with yourself!

Professional trainer

16 years in sales, management, practical training.
Professional capital development expert
Experience in Philip Morris, Henkel, Danone, RTL-holding
Clients: Colgate&Palmolive, BelorDesign, Garsia, Oasis Group, Belorusneft software, Conte Trade and others.
Has evaluated over 1200 salespeople and 180 Executives.
The best result in the country in joint field trainings - more than 800 (sales, negotiations, management).
HotSalesDay training organizer
Founder of the project and community "Work Like a Hobby"
Author of books: "Resolution for the Manager", "I want a normal job", "Excellent Interview"

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Personal qualities of a sales manager

The strength of a professional manager is communication skills. In this work, the ability to find contact with any person is very important. As a personal and professional quality of a sales manager, the concept of “sociability” includes:

Mastery of various sales techniques;

Ability to competently negotiate;

Ability to quickly establish contact with clients;

Ability to maintain contact with regular customers throughout the entire period of cooperation;

Knowledge of the product and the ability to competently and clearly communicate its benefits.

For a sales manager, it is equally important to have an inner core that will allow you to delicately but assertively convince customers of the profitability of purchasing a particular product. The personal qualities of a sales manager play a decisive role in this profession.

You can gain professional skills through numerous trainings and special programs, as well as through experience. But real success in sales will come only to those whom nature has endowed with a complex of necessary properties.

Personal qualities of a sales manager

In whatever area the manager works, the set of necessary personal qualities remains the same:

Presentable appearance;

The ability to find a personal approach to any client;

Grammatically correct speech;

Broad outlook;

Personal interest in sales;

Charm;

Ability to resolve conflicts.

All these important qualities of a sales manager are a necessary condition for success in this area. Professional Manager in sales must be confident in the firmness of his character.

Marketing research and sales planning.

Marketing research provides information about consumers, the effectiveness of promotion and sale methods, competitors, market conditions and other aspects. external environment tourism The purpose of marketing research is to identify the information needs and provide the information necessary for managers to improve the effectiveness of marketing decisions that are made by Marketing research to be systematic and objective in identifying marketing problems and helping to solve them. marketing research, becomes an integral part of MIS (Marketing Information Systems) The contribution of marketing research is to replenish at the expense of the information database received from them using the information database, marketing models and analytical methods of the database of models.

Marketing research can be conducted either in-house by the travel company itself, or be commissioned from external contractors. Generalist companies provide a full range of services in the field of marketing research, starting from the identification of a problem in the preparation and presentation of a report, their services are divided into syndicated, standardized, commissioned and carried out. through the Internet, those Limited Service Companies specialize in performing one or more stages of marketing research. Offered by such companies are classified as field work, code entry and data entry, data analysis, analytics services, and branded services.

The process of marketing research consists of six successively interconnected stages. International marketing research is much more complicated than those carried out within the state, so it is necessary to take into account the environmental factors characteristic of the international tourism market.

Cause of ethical issues in marketing research is a conflict between the interests of the stakeholders. This happens when one or more of them consider themselves free from obligations to others. Internet and computer technology are widely used in marketing research

Be sure not to pass by...

To every person who is looking for suitable job or an organization that needs a particular specialist had to look at sites that generate open vacancies and resumes. And the most relevant, to date, vacancy presented by organizations is a sales manager. Such vacancies are full of requirements and conditions, and the more creative the vacancy is, the more responses it receives. Someone responds to such vacancies for the first time, deciding to try himself in sales, and someone who has already tested his strength in this field is looking for a warmer place.

Personal qualities

Let's look at the qualities that a sales manager should have, and also consider one of the important qualities of a successful sales manager.

I have worked with both sales gurus and chicks that are just starting to fledge. Some of the chicks quickly develop into a guru, and someone needs a long time to adapt, which the employer often cannot afford.

In all the above cases, the factors of development and application of the personal qualities of a sales manager, both in practice and in theory, play. Let's try to consider them. Let's start with personality traits.

One sees only a puddle in a puddle, while the other, looking into a puddle, sees stars

Firstly, of course, this is an active desire to work in sales and develop yourself in this direction. Without this quality, there is no point in considering the other points mentioned here. After all, the starting point of any success is desire.

Secondly, knowledge of this or that product, and maybe the product line that the manager presents to the buyer.

Thirdly, it is certainly knowledge of sales techniques, for the development of this skill there is now a lot of information in open sources, and of course, if an employer is interested in developing his staff and increasing profits, then he simply will not skimp on organizing trainings and seminars on this direction. As you know, investing in knowledge gives the highest dividends.

Fourth, fifth, sixth... communication skills, the ability to negotiate competently, the ability to choose the right product / service that will solve the customer's problem.

All of the above qualities are simply indispensable for an active sales manager and his effective work, which should bring not only pleasure from the efforts made, but also fruits, both for the further development of the sales manager himself, and for obtaining the maximum profit that the manager aims for.

The best things go to those who do their job in the best way.

Now let's look at the quality that affects a successful sales manager.

The points listed above are a component of any sales manager, without these qualities the manager will not last and probationary period at work, either he runs away without looking back, or he gets fired. But what distinguishes all the same a successful sales manager? It is, of course, confidence. Confidence, which in turn falls into three categories:

  • Self-confidence
  • Product confidence
  • Company confidence

A manager can know all the products he sells for five plus, have a great command of sales techniques and communication skills, and at the same time masterfully combine stress resistance, but without that core, without this zest - confidence, everything can become in vain and ineffective.

Developing confidence and personal qualities is possible in several ways, but first of all it is work on yourself. And this can also be helped by positive thinking, perseverance, self-improvement of knowledge and skills, life experience, resistance to failures (no need to give up after the first failure), making responsible decisions, reading business literature, attending seminars, trainings, praise from superiors, and, of course, material bonuses.

A successful sales manager is a creative person who does not know how to think in a pattern.

It's never too late to become who you want to be.

_______________________________

Olga Katunina , Head of Sales Department for Integrated Solutions, IT at InformConsulting

#InformConsulting

#Expanding the horizons of possibilities

The sales manager plays a significant role in society because he is the person who represents the company and its products in its entirety. Through the manager, we learn about new companies and products. The sales performance of the company's products will depend on what impression the manager will make on us. The manager must also have the qualities of a good leader.

1. Neat appearance


Last but not least quality actually plays a very important role. Neat appearance is very important, as it reflects the individuality of a person, which also affects sales. Therefore, the manager should be well dressed, have a good physique - this will help to influence customers.

A manager must have good habits. Speech should be soft and pleasant. Facial expressions should reflect the enthusiasm on the face well. All this has a very big impact, so the sales manager should focus on these things.

2. Market knowledge


Everyone professional worker must have a maximum of knowledge about the business, if, of course, he wants to succeed in it. Similarly, a manager must have a healthy knowledge of the market. He must understand current market trends, customer needs and future market aspects in order for the company to succeed. The manager must know competitors and rivals and find effective methods fight them.

3. Planning and organization


Planning actions before doing something is a necessary quality. Organization and planning will make the work more efficient and the result more fruitful. The sales manager must always have a plan for finding a prospect, and once found, he must organize it.

He has to plan everything before going to meet clients. If he is going to make a call to a client, he must have a good plan and be ready to answer any question from the client. The manager must be able to cope with any task.

4. Opportunity to build new relationships


Relationships and connections are very important in this world. Connecting with people and contacts can be very useful in many areas of life. The manager must be polite, speak in such a way that when selling a product, he builds a new relationship with the client. Sometimes these relationships can lead him to look for more contacts around the world to benefit the company.

5. Good communication skills


Communication skills are important for every person working in the market. Globalization rules the world today. Each country has its roots spread all over the world. Any company is not located in the country itself, but has branches and clients around the world.

Employees of firms must convey ideas to their clients, so it is obvious that communication qualities must be at their very best. high level. They make a big contribution to developing relationships and attracting a large number of customers.

6. Feedback


All those who are focused on improving previous results are more successful and stable. A manager's earnings and career largely depend on clients, so their opinion is very important. Everyone knows that consumer demand changes over time in accordance with growing needs.

If the manager continues to supply old trend products, they will not be bought. It is very important for a sales manager to understand the needs of the client, to listen to feedback about the product. He must constantly review existing trends, make them compatible with the current ones, and then success will be achieved.

7. Persistence


In order to become successful person you have to try the same thing over and over again. Until we gain knowledge through our own mistakes, we will not succeed. We should not lose hope in the face of setbacks, but keep trying and stay resilient. Managers face rejection many times.

Often their appeals and letters do not receive a positive response even after a huge number of attempts. Therefore, in such a situation, the manager should not loosen his grip or stop trying, but instead should be ready for such failures and only then can he succeed.

8. Consistent absorption


Every person on earth is not perfect. People learn throughout their lives. Every day we learn something new and if we apply it in life, then we will continue to move towards success and excellence in work. This process is sequential.

A manager must be willing to learn something new from every sale made in a career.. He should try to always expand his network of knowledge, update it and look for new ways to improve. With the increase in knowledge, he will gain more experience and be able to develop a career.

9. Persuasiveness


This is the kind of ability a manager must acquire with every sale, big or small, in order to be successful. The manager must satisfy the customers with the product. This is real good business. The people he meets will ask the same questions about the product a thousand times, but he must patiently answer them in full detail.

This is also part of the persuasive character. When customers find the answer to each question, then they will be completely satisfied and buy the product.

10. Confidence


The sales manager must have confidence in his own products, because by his confidence, customers form an opinion about the products they are going to buy. If they are very confident in themselves, they create good impression in the eyes of customers, and sometimes for this trust, buyers are ready to purchase goods without hesitation.

We can also easily observe this in real life. Trust is actually very necessary in any field. Confidence comes with a person's knowledge and sincere belief in their abilities.. Confidence brings perfection in everything we do and it makes us happy and satisfied.

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Who wants to be a Caesar must have the soul of a Caesar

Romain Rolland

n The sales manager not only sells the product, but is also the face of the company. Therefore, the qualities of a sales manager should allow him to successfully present the product, demonstrate the benefits of cooperation with the company, and encourage the client to have a positive dialogue.

Personal qualities of a sales manager

The strength of a professional manager is communication skills. In this work, the ability to find contact with any person is very important. As a personal and professional quality of a sales manager, the concept of “sociability” includes:

  • Mastery of various sales techniques;
  • Ability to competently negotiate;
  • Ability to quickly establish contact with clients;
  • Ability to maintain contact with regular customers throughout the entire period of cooperation;
  • Knowledge of the product and the ability to competently and clearly communicate its benefits.

For a sales manager, it is equally important to have an inner core that will allow you to delicately but assertively convince customers of the profitability of purchasing a particular product. The personal qualities of a sales manager play a decisive role in this profession.

You can gain professional skills through numerous trainings and special programs, as well as through experience. But real success in sales will come only to those whom nature has endowed with a complex of necessary properties.

Personal qualities of a sales manager

In whatever area the manager works, the set of necessary personal qualities remains the same:

  • Presentable appearance;
  • The ability to find a personal approach to any client;
  • Grammatically correct speech;
  • Broad outlook;
  • Personal interest in sales;
  • Charm;
  • Ability to resolve conflicts.

All these important qualities of a sales manager are a necessary condition for success in this field. A professional sales manager must be confident in the firmness of his character.

These are the main qualities of a car sales manager and a sales manager in the field of IT technologies and in any other field.

Essential Qualities of a Sales Manager

Today, companies spend a lot of effort in order to find a good sales manager. We can say that this is a decisive position in any company, because without customers, the company does not make sense. Finding a competent talented professional is extremely difficult.

There is a certain portrait of such ideal manager by sales. Aspiring managers should strive to cultivate these qualities that employers are interested in:

  • Excellent knowledge of sales theory;
  • Work experience, preferably in a related field;
  • Knowledge of the market, the presence of established contacts in the area of ​​interest and its own customer base;
  • The complex of personal characteristics of the seller.

All these characteristics are rarely found in applicants at the same time. But any novice employee should try to bring his professional qualities of a sales manager closer to this ideal.

For example, in order to increase the level of knowledge in the field of sales theory, it is necessary not only to independently read modern literature on this topic, but also to systematically take specialized trainings and courses that will help to master the theory of sales not in fragments, but in its entirety.

And not just to remember, but also to learn how to effectively apply in practice. With these skills, work will be much easier.

It is equally important to thoroughly study your product. Every feature must be known. The ability to study a product is a characteristic that complements business qualities sales manager.

Where to begin?

As for work experience, at first it is worth taking on everything that is offered, if possible. For a successful career, it is necessary to gain primary real work experience, which will serve as proof of the ability to apply sales theory in practice.

It will also allow you to study the real conditions in a particular market, its conjuncture and laws, as well as gain your own initial customer base. Let it be small, but real.

And, of course, any sales manager should burn with his work. The desire to sell should be felt from a distance. And if it is not there, then all other qualities will be in vain. This is perhaps the defining quality of a sales manager.

If a person has that “spark” that makes him go forward, sell more and more successfully, then he will be able to master the theory of sales, gain a customer base and study the market.

You can gain knowledge and experience under the guidance of a mentor, by the way, many of them prefer to do just that. But the “fire of sales” cannot be obtained in any other way than innate.

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