What makes a good sales person?

[brunstar]

What makes a good sales person?

Someone who knows about your personal life?

Someone that has technical knowlege on the product they are selling?

A nobody?

[nh3wizard]

What kind of BS poll is this! What does common sense tell you.

[monkey spanners]

I like to talk to the guys that fix the things if i was buying a van for example to ask what goes wong with them.
A company i worked for employed two salesmen and i've yet to regain my trust in 'salesmen' since seeing how those two guys worked.

[Brian_UK]

What makes a good sales person?

Someone who knows about your personal life?

Someone that has technical knowlege on the product they are selling?

A nobody?Which side of the fence are you asking this question from ?

[Toosh]

What makes a good sales person?

Someone who knows about your personal life?

Someone that has technical knowlege on the product they are selling?

A nobody?

Why the F**** would a sales person know about your life, I find this post strange :(

Norm

[brunstar]

this is what brought this poll along, i was speaking to a national sales rep and he was insisting the technical knowlege is not so important and i was stressing how it is to get the job done correclty and advise correctly, that is what i wanted to prove.
Basically wanted to prove that there is more to a unit than the box it is packaged in.

[multisync]

A good salesman is someone who sells things. No use being all high and mighty about it. If you take the moral high ground but lose every job you will go bust-that way lies madness..

[brunstar]

this is true multi and this will also change depending on what you are selling. the customer is going to be in doubt about something with what they are about to spec and how to apply it.
Monkey spanner, i agree.

[Scramjetman]

A good salesman sells trust. Trust comes from personal integrity - especially if you want to stay in the game a long time.

Knowledge of the product or system is important but so is the humility it takes to say " I don't know, but I'll find out.." when asked about something we are not sure of. A salesman doesn't need to be a walking encyclopaedia but he must know where to find answers quickly - which may be as simple as calling a techie and asking them the question.

These qualities ensure long term results because potential clients then form a relationship with the salesman and it's the relationship that sells the product or service.

[cmac]

The last company I worked for had a salesman. Terrible he was. Anyway, he managed to sell a 6 ft plug in dairywall to a little supermarket in a little village. We arrive on site, take the fridge of the trailer and it dosn't fit in the door.

We ended up taking out the main window of the shop and passing the fridge through it

If the salesman bothered to take a few measurements, he could've sold them a different fridge

[chillerman2006]

What makes a good sales person?

Someone who knows about your personal life?

Someone that has technical knowlege on the product they are selling?

A nobody?

Depends on if the customer tells you his heat load and requirements or if you have to explain it to them.

If they know their requirements then you just look at your available products and base your sale around how reliable your product is and the level of service backup you can supply.

If they dont know then no technical knowledge or lack of by a salesman will lead to a bad sale and no re-accurring business.:D

[paul_h]

The last company I worked for had a salesman. Terrible he was. Anyway, he managed to sell a 6 ft plug in dairywall to a little supermarket in a little village. We arrive on site, take the fridge of the trailer and it dosn't fit in the door.

We ended up taking out the main window of the shop and passing the fridge through it

If the salesman bothered to take a few measurements, he could've sold them a different fridge

That's part of my job now. Sharp make massive 4 door domestic fridges, people buy them but can't fit them through their door. I'm one of three people in this city which strip the doors, control panel and hinges off to fit them inside houses, easy money and you can charge whatever since no one else knows how or is interested in the work.
Of course the customers know beforehand if they want a huge fridge it may not fit through their door, and it's their choice whether to buy it or not. Most are happy because they want a massive fridge these days.

[CHIEF DELPAC]

I think that the most important aspect of a good sales rep. is the ability to the listen to and to under stand what the potential customer needs. C,D.

[IceMan_4000]

Some of the answers are pretty classic.

Burn all sales people they only care about the sale.

a good sales person makes sales.

I don't think so

A good sales person "does know about your personal life" this is about the only answer I see that actually applies to a good sales person out of this poll.

A good sales person stands for his customers. His customers are his life blood. the better he/she is with their customers the longer career someone can have in sales. the true job of a sales person is relationship building. Then they have the ability to remove all doubt and questions from the sale drastically reducing buyers remorse. by insuring that all the buyers questions have been answered.

Here is the big one

If a sales person can do that then the buyer just got not only what they wanted but also what they needed and they will buy from you again.

A strong technical knowledge in refrigeration sales is important, I find most of the customers have a strong knowledge about their systems. To connect with them you must be at least able to have a technical conversation about the system and your proposal.

If you selling shoes this does not matter so much.


A good sales person does not just move bill of goods and make large numbers. I have always considered this type of sales people Snake Oil sales man. They are usually run out of town by an anger mob. after stealing all the towns money.

Sorry bored and ranting aimlessly I think I am done with the soap box now.

:rolleyes:

[beagle]

A good salesman sells trust. Trust comes from personal integrity - especially if you want to stay in the game a long time.

Knowledge of the product or system is important but so is the humility it takes to say " I don't know, but I'll find out.." when asked about something we are not sure of. A salesman doesn't need to be a walking encyclopaedia but he must know where to find answers quickly - which may be as simple as calling a techie and asking them the question.

These qualities ensure long term results because potential clients then form a relationship with the salesman and it's the relationship that sells the product or service.


That's it in a nutshell for me. I've worked with a lot of people over the years and (generally speaking) the ones that have been the most successful are all described perfectly in that post. There's definately others out there that do very well and are completely different, I know of one that customers would swear is a techie because his knowledge is so vast, as a straight up salesman he's aweful, he can't do small talk and he really can't build any kind of rapport with customers but the ones that do like him like him for his ability to turn around an enquiry quicker than anyone else. There's a great misconception that salesman have to be a particular type of person, it's crap. Everyone is different with different needs, the same is true for salesman and their customers, the trick is matching the two.

[p_p]

Hi All

Someone who doesn't BUL-S--T, I havn't met a salesman yet that isn't full of crap and tells you what you want to hear.
They don't make very good service managers either.

Send them to the Gallows!!! LOL

PP

[dongbadz]

It is not the Song but the singer ho delivers the song..

No matter how bad or good your product and services was ....

It all depends in the salesman on how he can express the selling point of the product......

It was the heart and soul for the company.....

[Colin G]

A 'GOOD' sales man will have gift of the gab, some one that you instantly like speaking to.

[Karl Hofmann]

A good salesman will be gone by the time the second heavy object leaves my hand....

[RefrigNoob]

A good sales person has technical knowledge of the product he's selling... They are rarely successful sales persons though.

A successful sales person has a certain personal relationship with his customers. Provides low lead times, prompt answering of queries, quick quotes, low pricing, and takes an active interest in his customers' projects. He's also easy to get a hold of, easy to get on site, and an all-round friendly, honest person.

But to answer the op's question: The national sales manager was right...

[glenn1340]

....one who`ll say anything to get the order, in my experience. Then expect in guy who has to get the equipment up five flights of stairs to wave his magic wand and get the job done in a day. Most of the salesmen I`ve come across were arrogant ¬!"£s. Only one was a genuine guy and he was the best salesman I`ve met, quiet and unassuming but very knowledgable. I suppose that`s why he was so successful: customers new he wasn`t bull****ting them.
Glenn

[Ration_Tea]

What kind of BS poll is this! What does common sense tell you.

I agree with you on that! :cool:

[still learning]

good advice,good service, good price.
and good aftercare.

[NoNickName]

there is no such a thing like a good sales person. They are all bad regardless.