The 8 Types of Sales Reps by lisafugere

[Doha]

In a 2010 study for the Harvard Business Review, Lynette Ryals and Iain Davies observed 800 sales professionals in live meetings. They discovered that sales reps exude one of eight personalities, and that only 3 of those personalities (accounting for 37% of the sales reps) are consistently effective.

Know which type of sales rep you are, and take action to improve your technique.
The Best

Experts

Make selling seem effortless. Keep customers happy. Consistently outperform their peers.

Areas for improvement: None. Should mentor up-and-comers, help less effective sales staff, and spread best practices throughout the company.

Account for 9% of sales reps



Closers

Pull off some very big deals (typically in product sales rather than in service sales) and can effectively counter customer objections. But their smooth-talking style puts some customers off.

Areas for improvement: Need light-touch mentoring to improve selling of services. A strong motivation and reward system must be in place to retain them.

Account for 13% of sales reps



Consultants

Listen well and are good problem solvers. They develop solutions that meet their customers? needs, but tend to be one-dimensional and to forgo valuable case examples that could boost sales.

Areas for improvement: Need mentoring to integrate more dimensions into their approach and enrich customer interactions. Have the potential to become experts.

Account for 15% of sales reps


The Rest

Focusers
Know their products cold and believe deeply in them, but lack confidence. They often insist on detailing every product feature and may not hear customers? needs.

Areas for improvement: Focusers need training in listening skills and must learn to use their technical savvy to meet customers? needs.

Account for 19% of sales reps


Storytellers

Customer-focused, and love to provide case studies. Don?t often talk through the sale, and waste time in long meetings that don?t yield results.

Areas for improvement: Need training to focus meetings (for example, setting clear agendas and targets), to ?read? meetings and to become more aware of their behavior

Account for 7% of sales reps



Narrators

Know their offerings and the market but are overly dependent on scripts. They cling desperately to marketing materials and fail to respond adequately to challenging questions.

Areas for improvement: Need basic instruction in questioning techniques and improvisation. Should shift their focus from PowerPoint and brochures to customers themselves.

Account for 15% of sales reps

Aggressors

Approach sales meetings purely as price negotiations. They can score big wins, and they rarely concede too much. However, some customers dislike their combative approach.

Areas for improvement: Need a broader repertoire of skills. Should improve their market knowledge. May benefit from self-awareness training

Account for 7% of sales reps



Socializers

May initially impress customers with their friendly chat about such things as children and cars. But they usually don?t get past this, and close few deals.

Areas for improvement: Need training in transitioning to selling mode sooner. Should have clear short-term targets. Must be closely managed.

Account for 15% of sales reps