Over the past weeks there have been a growing number of advertisements seeking Sales Persons. The list of prerequisites is getting longer and more impressive:

“At least two years experience; be creative, flexible and outgoing; professional and business like; possess strong oral and written skills; own a reliable motor car; be able to travel island wide; have a minimum of six CXC subjects; previous sales experience an asset; be able to work on their own initiative”

I often remind these ambitious employers that persons who are “able to work on their own and are self-motivated” more often that not are self-employed. But the problem is deeper than that. Where do they expect these sales persons to materialize from? What aspect of our school experience is producing this subtle mix of technical and interpersonal skills? Who is the archetypical typical sales person? 

In Jamaica, many would nominate someone selling insurance, consumer goods or medical supplies as the archetype. What did these persons want to be when they “grow big”? I can guarantee that it was not a salesperson. What percentage of people who are now in sales had these aspirations in primary school? Few. In high school? Less. In college? None. 

Sales is a career path that can generate very high income and autonomy, is extremely critical to the success of most businesses, but which has received no support from the formal educational system. Were there any sales persons at your school’s Career Day? The most common attraction to the area of sales has been the ability to determine one’s earning capacity and one’s work hours. I dare say that more people have these desires than have the capacity to meet the expectation.

I have always thought that the profile for a top performing ‘old order’ salesman would be a man with expensive tastes in material things and high maintenance women. The female profile would be an ambitious single mother who wants the best for her three children.  Both of these types were driven to produce. Today, Sales has evolved well beyond these parameters. We had better wake up and begin some serious preparatory work for this profession. The old order sales wo/man is all but dead.

The Birth of the New Sales Person
The new sales person must be much more than an order taker. The internet and Business to Business activities (B to B) procedures can do a more effective job.  The digital model has the supplier with a cash register online, the customer has an inventory control system with a preset reorder point at which an email is automatically generated directing an order to the supplier. All this takes place without someone stopping by to enquire “How much yu want dis month baas?”

The new salesperson is your strategic business partner who is no longer interested in “closing a sale”, but instead “opening a relationship”. I was involved in training some persons who worked in a Digicel store shortly after the company came on-stream. They had the ‘old order’ mind set that a phone was a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. I had to prepare them for the reality that the lifetime of a cell phone would be about one year. Based on the quality of the relationship established with the customer, you could develop a continuous income stream from not only phones, but also for accessories.
In their book, "How to Hire and Develop Your Next Top Performer: The Five Qualities That Make Sales People Great", Herb Greenberg, Harold Weinstein and Patrick Sweeney correlated hundreds of thousands of assessments that were performed over several decades with various sales performance measurements. They help us understand why it is that some people succeed in sales, while others seem to get nowhere. They arrived at a frightening conclusion that may well be applicable to the Jamaican situation. The first is that:

 “55% of the people earning their living in sales should be doing something else”

The second conclusion is that:

“Another 20% to 25% have what it takes to sell, but they should be selling something else”.

The reasons for these dismal figures are largely based on the fact that most sales persons are primarily driven by the earning potential and are selected for the job by limited and subjective processes. This usually means a resume (self-report) and an interview. We recommend that if Sales is critical to your business, an employer must go well beyond this.
Begin by developing a profile of your most successful sales persons. This will allow you to identify the common element(s) that distinguishes them from the rest. Next, identify some more people who have these same traits. How? Use the available research which has identified traits that are usually present in persons who excel in Sales.

The Sales Aptitude Test
The Sales Aptitude Test was developed by Science Research Associates to assess behavioural and personality characteristics which have been shown to be important to success in sales occupations. It is used for personnel selection and placement for Sales and Sales Management positions. The assessment measures an individual’s sales aptitude.

The test utilizes items related to seven (7) personal attributes. These are:

• Achievement Motivation - the internalization of high standards for performance and the preference for working on challenging or difficult tasks. Individuals who are highly motivated to achieve are ambitious and strive to accomplish something important. They are often highly competitive, and they place a priority on winning.
  
• Ego-Strength – resilience to criticism, rejection or failure. Individuals with high ego strength have a strong sense of self-worth and like themselves for who they are. These persons are able to maintain a positive attitude in the face of failure or rejection.
  
  
• Energy – behaviours which are characterised by vigour, intensity and endurance. People with high energy are able to sustain effort for long periods of time.
  
  
• Enterprise – the preference for adventurous activities and willingness to take risks that will pay off in a materialistic sense. Enterprising people enjoy working in a competitive business environment.
  
  
• Persuasiveness – the need to verbally express oneself with the intent of influencing the behaviours or decisions of others.
  
  
• Self-Confidence – the willingness to take action based on the belief that effort will produce desired outcomes. Individuals with a high level of self-confidence approach tasks with the belief that their abilities and drive are all well matched to the task.
  
  
• Sociability – the preference for interacting with people during work and recreation. Highly sociable people gain satisfaction from relationships; they are friendly, outgoing, articulate and socially at ease.

Based on these traits, sales aptitude is characterized by a tough-minded social confidence, a competitive ambition, a need to persuade and influence others and a high level of energy and industry. The test produces a single score which has been shown to predict successful sales performance in a variety of industries.

Let’s get some new order sales persons out in the schools at all levels to show students that Sales is an exciting career option. Let’s provide stimulating home and school environments to produce more of these outgoing, articulate, socially confident ambitious people. We certainly do need them.

Dr. Semaj is a frequent facilitator for Strategic Planning Retreats, Cultural alignment and Organizational Restructuring. He conducts Staff Selection and Development Programmes for different business sectors across the Caribbean.