A more professional sales force?

by Dave Kahle

Here are four basic characteristics of a professional salesperson.

1) A professional salesperson strives continually to do a good job.
The world is full of salespeople who have plateaued at an average performance level and are content to remain there. The professional salesperson sees the job as a challenge to continually strive for greater performance and more personal growth. He/she understands that professionalism demands commitment to excellent performance, and strives to deliver.

2) A professional is a good employee.
Too many distributor salespeople consider themselves outside of the world defined by the policies, strategies, goals and procedures of their employer. Believing their relationships with their customers are unshakeable and personal, they provide lip service to their manager’s directions, and go about their jobs as they see fit. They equate experience with competence.

3) A professional is committed to personal growth.
High standards and continuous improvement are characteristics of every profession. While we may be a generation away from requiring minimum standards in entry level salespeople, we can expect them to invest in their own improvement. I’m convinced that only five percent of the salespeople have spent $20 on their own improvement in the past 12 months. That’s an indication of the degree to which they are committed to personal and professional growth.

4) Professionals are individuals of substantial character.
You don’t expect foul language, coarse behavior, substance abuse, financial shortcuts and unethical behavior from a professional. A professional is a person of substantial, reliable character of a high order. Or at least they should be.

For generations, we have seen this mindset toward the sales force: “Hire from inside, provide a 100 percent commission pay plan, and look the other way. Anybody can be a salesperson. Just make sure they have enough product knowledge, and expect the pay plan to separate the competent from the ill-equipped.” We filled our sales forces with competent customer-service reps who were envious of the big bucks the salespeople made. We never demanded professionalism.

How to fix it
Step One: Change your thinking. Think professional. Then, start talking about it. Let everyone know that you expect professionalism. Set the standard. Talk the talk. Your repeated public stance will gradually infuse the thinking of all your employees.

Step Two: Begin to treat your salespeople like professionals. Expect accountability. Expect striving for excellence. Expect solid character. Develop standards. Hold people accountable. People will live up to the image they have of themselves, and to the expectations others have for them.

Step Three: Invest in their development. Train them in the best practices of professional distributor salespeople. That means a consistent, regular injection of education, encouragement, inspiration and motivation.

Step Four: Hire quality and character. Sooner or later you’re going to face the need to acquire a new salesperson. Focus on character and competence, not product knowledge. Product knowledge can be gained. Qualities of character are more easily hired than developed.

This article originally appeared in the 2008 ISA Conference issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2008.

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