Benevolent Influence

There are a lot of approaches taken by companies to find good salespeople, and they tend to reflect a cartoonish view of what a salesperson is - often someone who is pushy and obnoxious, dresses well but pretentiously, and has a very white smile.

I have worked with successful business leaders who make otherwise sophisticated and nuanced judgements when it comes to talent acquisition only to see them predict success for the stereotypical salesperson that they would themselves avoid in any other business or social setting. For every other position on the team, these owners want to find someone who will contribute to the overall success of the business and the team dynamic. But when it comes to sales, the approach can be summed as "Wow, this guy won't stop talking! I bet he's great at pushing people into buying. Hire him immediately, and don't ever allow him into my office or the development area again."

Even at sophisticated sales driven organizations like the major brokerage and investment firms, there is no clear consensus on what the indicators are of a person who will be successful in sales. They simply hire a lot of people and throw them to the lions with little investment or support. Most fail, and the ones who succeed did so because they somehow managed to sell. End of story.

But there really is one clear trait that is always present in a pure salesperson. It is a desire to be a benevolent influence. Ask someone what their favorite restaurant is, and most people will ponder it for a moment and give you one or two names. But there are those people who will first ask something like "for what kind of experience? a celebration? romantic evening?". Next, they will tell you in great detail about a place they have been where they had a great experience, and it sounds just like what you are looking for... in fact, they may recall the name of the bar manager whose card they got while they were there and they will certainly get that to you... and of course, if you are going to be in that area you should definitely stop by such-and-such right around the corner for a quick drink afterwards, etc. etc.

That is the power of benevolent desire to influence someone's choices for their own well being. It is the trademark of the pure salesperson, and it includes all of the elements of a well constructed sales presentation:

1. Qualification / Assessment of need - in order to recommend a restaurant to you, I need to know what you are looking for - is it a place loud and crowded (a great scene) or quiet and romantic?
2. Personalization - I'm going to tell you not about the restaurant, but about the great time I had at the restaurant and why I think you will have a great time there too.
3. Connection / Action - I want to make sure you have a great time so I am going to leverage my contacts and put you in touch with someone there who can be sure that you are well taken care of. Incidentally, this allows me the opportunity to contact you later with this information and tell you again how much I hope you enjoy my recommendation.
4. Follow On - And because I want you to have a great time, and I want you to perceive me as an expert source of advice on where to go, I am going to suggest another place nearby that would also add to your enjoyment.

Not every successful salesperson is a benevolent influencer (unfortunately), but every benevolent influencer is a great salesperson, and the higher you go in size and complexity of sale the more important it is for that core value to be present.