• These are the key characteristics like confidence and empathy, that determine, in large part, whether someone has the ability to win. These traits are an intersection of personality attributes and developed skills.

• SPQ Gold have identified five important sales characteristics. Those traits are an extreme desire for success, love of the sales process, strong resilience, self-motivation, and the ability to be personable to clients. Each trait serves an equally important role in creating high performance and developing strong connections with clients.

• By doing this emotional intelligence increases adaptability and communication skills. It helps you better relate to your clients and prospects, improving your sales effectiveness and performance.

• Cultivating these traits results in repeatable sales success. It enhances the professional credibility of the field and cultivates career advancement over the long term for people working in sales positions.

• Salespeople can develop these traits by establishing specific objectives and implementing active listening techniques. They must keep teammates’ spirits high through hardship and commit to continuous self-improvement through training and workshops.

• Organizations succeed when they encourage these qualities in their sales forces. That’s how the resulting focus on sales culture becomes a foundation for effective collaboration, teamwork, and high-performance culture.

The SPQ Gold assessment identifies five key sales traits that are essential for achieving top performance in sales roles. These traits focus on behaviors and attitudes that directly impact success, including persistence, adaptability, and a proactive approach to challenges.

By understanding these traits, teams can align their strategies to enhance productivity and build stronger client relationships. Sales professionals who excel in these areas often demonstrate better communication, problem-solving, and the ability to close deals effectively.

SPQ Gold provides a focused framework to evaluate and develop these critical skills, helping individuals and organizations reach their full potential. With these insights, sales teams can achieve more consistent and measurable results in competitive environments, ensuring long-term success.

What Are Sales Traits

Sales traits are the inherent or deep-rooted traits and characteristics that define how a salesperson behaves in their role. These traits determine how a salesperson behaves and their overall approach. They affect how they interact with customers, approach challenges and close sales.

They are a combination of innate personality characteristics and acquired skill sets, both of which combine to create the recipe for strong sales. By prioritizing these traits, organizations can have a clearer view and ultimately a greater impact on developing and optimizing the behaviors that drive most successful client interactions.

Definition of Sales Traits

Sales traits encompass qualities like confidence, empathy, and persistence. Confidence helps salespeople present themselves as credible and knowledgeable, while empathy allows them to understand and connect with the client’s needs.

Persistence ensures they keep going even when faced with challenges. Assessing these traits can be done through tools like personality tests and sales aptitude assessments, which help identify strengths and areas for growth.

For example, the SPQ Gold assessment evaluates 12 types of Call Reluctance behaviors, offering insights into how these traits impact performance. Comprehending these traits is key to developing successful sales strategies.

For example, candidates with Drive—characterized by Need for Achievement, Competitiveness, and Optimism—tend to perform best by nurturing relationships with their clients. Drive isn’t necessarily something that can be taught, but it can be cultivated through specialized training programs, with a focus on active listening and storytelling.

Importance of Sales Traits in Performance

Strong sales traits make a powerful impact on success. These positive traits allow salespeople to create and maintain trust, which can lead to greater customer satisfaction and retention.

Storytelling, as old a craft as sales themselves, helps to develop those impactful connections. Traits such as Drive make certain sales representatives are consistently goal-oriented and high-achieving so opportunities aren’t left on the table.

Organizations are losing an average of five new business units a month for each lousy salesperson. Cultivating these traits not only enhances individual performance but fosters positive team dynamics, propelling your entire team to greater success.

5 Key Sales Traits Explained

Sales success is built on a combination of specific traits that drive performance and foster long-term growth. The SPQ Gold assessment identifies five essential traits—hunger for success, passion for sales, resilience, self-motivation, and being personable.

These traits are not just desirable but foundational for thriving in a competitive sales environment. Each plays a distinct role in shaping individual and team outcomes, ensuring both personal achievement and organizational success.

1. Hunger for Success

This is an unwavering desire to achieve and surpass sales objectives. A sales rep with this drive always has their foot on the gas, looking for opportunities and driving through walls.

Setting ambitious targets sows the seeds of this trait, driving professionals to stay driven and goal-oriented. Consider a salesperson whose goal is to close five new accounts per month. They don’t just hope for that outcome; they plan intensely to make that outcome the reality.

This incessant hunger manifests itself into a fierce drive, making sure that roadblocks are viewed as problems to solve instead of hindrances.

2. Passion for Sales

Passion for sales is a strong internal desire to engage with customers and provide valuable solutions. When salespeople truly care about their product and the transactions they’re making, they create an atmosphere of trust and loyalty, which helps generate repeat business.

A passionate sales rep who believes in their product sells its value through compelling storytelling. This strategy has been known for a long time to be a very persuasive strategy.

That excitement is contagious, and both the client and the organization are better for it.

3. Resilience in Challenges

Bouncing back from defeats while remaining focused on long-term goals is crucial in sales. Sales naturally involves rejection, yet resilient reps adapt and persist through challenges.

Here’s where a growth mindset comes in—seeing failures as an opportunity to learn rather than a loss. For example, a salesperson who loses a potential deal might analyze what went wrong, refine their approach, and close the next opportunity.

Resilience guarantees that no matter the situation, we’re still moving forward.

4. Self-Motivation for Growth

Self-motivation is the desire to be better, do better, and learn more. Self-motivated salespeople take the lead on their learning, be it through mastering new tech or developing deeper product knowledge.

For example, creating a personal goal, such as increasing sales by 10% month over month, can keep you on your toes. Celebrating these small wins along the way further strengthens this motivation, forming a positive feedback loop of growth and confidence.

5. Being Personable with Clients

Being personable humanizes interactions and helps to build trust, rapport, and loyalty. Great salespeople know how to listen, ask the right questions, and put the client’s needs at the forefront, building rapport and trust.

In fact, research shows that when you start with good questions, it shows your customers you care about their pain points. For instance, a rep who is more focused on learning a prospect’s struggles first rather than simply selling a solution creates a stronger rapport.

This commitment to building relationships deepens loyalty, converting occasional purchasers into career collaborators.

How These Traits Enhance Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI), known as emotional quotient (EQ), is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express your emotions, as well as the emotions of others. When it comes to selling, this ability is priceless. It fosters deeper relationships, more honest dialogue, and increased flexibility.

SPQ Gold pinpoints these five key sales traits as essential for developing emotional intelligence (EI). These traits enable sales professionals to manage complex client interactions and negotiations more easily and successfully.

Building Stronger Client Relationships

Sales are incredibly based on trust and connection. This is where emotional intelligence enables salespeople to make an emotional connection by recognizing and reacting to client feelings.

An empathetic salesperson will notice a customer’s reluctance and do something about it. When a salesperson addresses their concerns proactively, a prospective client feels heard and respected.

Consistent touch points, such as follow-up calls with tailored information, deepen these connections, laying the groundwork for future work together. Research indicates that leaders who create that kind of trust not only build a more positive team culture, they increase their team’s productivity by 29-31%.

Improving Communication Skills

One of the major advantages of EI is that it allows for clear communication. Salespeople high in EI are able to articulate concepts clearly and shift their energy to align with what the client wants.

Empathy and active listening come into play too, helping them uncover client needs and pursue them accurately. Taking the time to customize specific pitches to match a client’s particular priorities can go a long way.

When teams are guided by emotionally intelligent leaders, they are more likely to communicate ideas freely, doing better than their competition by 35%.

Enhancing Adaptability in Sales

Adaptability, the ability to adjust to new challenges, flourishes with EI. Understanding client non-verbal cues and being adaptable in approach creates a more effective response to client needs.

Continual development and receptiveness to outside input go a long way in this area. Leaders with EI, those who cultivate these habits, experience their teams exceed sales quotas by 52%.

Benefits of Cultivating These Traits

Cultivating these five sales traits, including Drive and a Finisher Mindset, presents enormous advantages for both individuals and organizations. This focus not only leads to better sales results but also enhances the sales recruitment process, creating a more fulfilling and effective workplace. By fostering customer-focused skills, sales teams can build a positive culture that supports successful salespeople and collaboration.

Achieving Consistent Sales Success

The regular practice of these traits ensures the framework for long-term success in sales. High-Drive people, for instance, statistically do better in sales positions. Research indicates a 90% success rate.

As with any program, tracking performance metrics is key in determining what’s working and improving upon what isn’t. For example, tracking conversion rates on a regular basis will not only increase conversion rates, but will improve techniques. Having ambitious but achievable goals is what continues to drive the boat—be it raising monthly sales figures or lowering customer churn rates.

A Finisher Mindset guarantees they actually follow through on those commitments, which can make or break customer satisfaction and long-term success.

Increasing Professional Credibility

Sales credibility builds when these traits are habitually applied. Storytelling, for instance, builds deeper relationships with customers while articulating your solutions in a way that connects.

Listening is just as important, because when you understand what the customer really wants, you earn their trust and earn repeat business or referrals. Eventually, this consistent integrity builds a salesperson’s brand, making them the reputable, dependable contact anyone can trust in the industry.

Fostering Long-Term Career Growth

Cultivating these traits leads to greater professional opportunities. Competitiveness and optimism are two traits that are particularly in tune with leadership potential in sales roles.

Salespeople who welcome improvement through personal development, like training or other customer-focused methodologies, usually end up preparing themselves for more advanced roles. A deep-seated drive for accomplishment can help speed up career advancement, providing a path for long-term success.

Tips to Develop These Sales Traits

To be a successful salesperson, developing these five traits — Drive, Storytelling, Optimism, Competitiveness, Need for Achievement — is critical. Here are six concrete ways to start developing these sales skills and become a better seller today.

Set Clear and Measurable Goals

Setting specific goals gives you focus and encouragement. For instance, you might aim for a 10% growth in your client base within the next quarter. Or maybe you just work to close x number of deals per week.

Setting overarching goals and regularly reviewing them allows you to measure progress and pivot strategy based on audience feedback to make things better and better. Sharing your goals with a mentor or peers can foster accountability, offering you guidance and support along the way.

Practice Active Listening Techniques

Active listening goes beyond hearing what a client says and includes becoming completely engaged with clients to really understand their issues. Methods such as rephrasing what the client has communicated, posing clarifying inquiries, or offering constructive criticism further hone this ability.

For instance, when a client shares a pain point, paraphrasing their issue shows empathy and fosters trust. By actively listening, you not only cultivate more robust relationships that help open doors to repeat business and referrals.

Stay Positive During Setbacks

Sales setbacks are inevitable, but maintaining a positive mindset can keep you resilient. Optimism allows salespeople to see rejection as an opportunity to grow instead of an obstacle.

Techniques such as reframing failures into learning opportunities—for example, dissecting why a deal was lost—can get sales reps to learn and adjust. Understanding that everyone experiences rejection in the sales field helps maintain motivation.

Invest in Personal Development

Continuous learning is vital in sales. Participating in training programs, like workshops on storytelling or effective prospecting, refines skills and builds confidence.

Leveraging tools like the SPQ/FSA assessment can uncover personal areas for improvement, including overcoming digital discomfort or addressing sales reluctance. This ongoing investment not only boosts sales effectiveness but enhances career satisfaction.

Conclusion

Powerful positive sales traits in salespeople are what really drive top performance. Resilience, adaptability, and empathy go a long way in understanding prospects and creating the necessary connection to close deals. They work together intensely with EQ. This collaboration provides you with a unique edge that will help you better anticipate and deliver on client needs. These skills don’t come easy, but the return on investment is evident in the improved relationships and increased success rates.

So stay the course in developing these traits. Even modest actions such as above and active listening, managing rejection with a bright outlook and remaining open to input are a great start. Again, the goal isn’t perfection, but progress.

Take this understanding and apply it to develop your abilities and experience the effect firsthand. Improving sales performance begins with YOU. Don’t wait until it’s too late – position yourself ahead of the pack and become a key sales leader today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are sales traits?

Sales traits, such as emotional resilience, adaptability, and strong communication skills, are key traits that can help identify successful salespeople. SPQ Gold has found that 5 specific sales traits drive the sales performance of top performers in the sales recruitment process.

What are the 5 key sales traits identified by SPQ Gold?

These five key traits — goal orientation, emotional intelligence, adaptability, resilience, and effective communication — are essential for successful salespeople. These traits form the foundation that a passionate salesperson needs to develop long-term relationships with clients and achieve high sales performance.

How do these traits enhance emotional intelligence?

These personality traits help to develop the emotional intelligence vital for successful salespeople by increasing self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal skills. Sales professionals with strong empathy can connect more effectively with prospective customers, understand their needs, and address concerns.

What are the benefits of cultivating these sales traits?

By cultivating these key traits, successful salespeople drive top sales performance, build the most trusted client relationships, and achieve greater career advancement, enhancing their problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Can anyone develop these sales traits?

The answer is yes, because anyone has the potential to cultivate these key traits through regular practice, training, and self-reflection. Successful salespeople can learn and grow through role-playing, mentorship, and feedback.

How do I start developing these traits?

To become a successful salesperson, ensure you start with specific, measurable goals and regularly seek feedback. Focus on enhancing communication skills, adaptability, and emotional intelligence through drills and self-awareness activities.

Why are these traits critical for sales success?

These personality traits are important, as they allow successful salespeople to forge trusting relationships, navigate obstacles, and focus on providing value for clients. Such competencies drive long-term success and separate great salespeople from everyone else.