Top salespeople display key attributes such as high verbal acuity to communicate effectively with customers, an achievement-oriented personality to consistently meet goals, and situational dominance to confidently guide conversations. They also exhibit inward pessimism that drives them to qualify deals more thoroughly. High performers collaborate closely with sales managers on strategy and benefit from working in sales organizations with strong accountability and morale. Individual attributes and environmental factors, rather than company growth rates, determine sales performance.

1. Vlerick Sales Centre Article Summary Series
What separates the strongest salespeople from the weakest? (by Steve
W. Martin, Harvard Business Review, March 2015)
Summarized By Ellen Croux and Deva Rangarajan, Vlerick Sales Center
Introduction
This document summarizes three connected pieces of work by Steve W. Martin,
that should resonate with salespeople and sales managers alike.
A lot of research has been conducted concerning the right capabilities a salesperson
should have to become a high-performing top salesperson. This project involved
the interviewing of top salespeople and sales leaders to gather more information
about the attributes necessary to exceed your quota.
High level of verbal acuity
A communication level where the meaning, nature, and importance of the words
spoken by the salesperson are personally understood by the customer. A high-
performing salesperson knows how to convey a message at the recipient’s
communication level. On average they score between the 11th
and 13th
level on
the Flesch-Kincaid test. A good understanding between both parties is necessary to
make them see that they can both gain from a certain deal and it augments the
credibility of the salesperson.
Achievement oriented personality
High performing salespeople are fixated on achieving goals and continuously
measure their performance in comparison to their goals. They are well-equipped to
function in competitive environments where self-discipline is a necessity. Most of
them also played an individual or team sport in high school. High performers are
also power users, they take full advantage of their company’s CRM technology and
internal systems.
Situational dominance
A personal interaction strategy by which the customer accepts the salesperson’s
recommendations and follows his advice. In sales, dominance is how people judge
each other, it is not about the use of brute force. People sense what their position
is; inferior, equal or superior, and this perceived position has impact on their

2. behaviour and communication during a conversation. A relaxed-dominant
salesperson guides the conversation by speaking freely and by confidently sharing
his knowledge and opinions with the customer.
Inward pessimism
Salespersons describe themselves as optimists. Salespeople always have to
maintain a positive and pleasant attitude in front of customers. Upon further review
a lot of high performers actually exhibit pessimistic personality tendencies. Inward
pessimism drives a salesperson to question the viability of the deal and credibility
of the buyer. Top salespeople ask the customer tougher qualifying questions and
seek out meetings with senior level decision makers who ultimately decide which
vendor will be selected.
Sales Management impact
High and underperforming salespeople utilize their managers differently. High
performers find leadership and management skills; practical experience and sales
intuition and communication and coaching skills the top 3 priority attributes of
great sales managers. Underperformers tend to use their managers to make up for
the product and industry knowledge they lack.
Both high –and underperforming salespeople are in contact with their sales
managers at about the same frequency. But the conversations they have with sales
leaders are different. High performers are collaborative in strategizing sessions
about prospective deals.
Sales organization influence
High-performing salespersons rate their sales organization’s morale as being higher
than in most sales organizations. The research suggests that sales organization
morale influences individual sales success. Also accountability influences individual
quota achievement. High-performers agree that salespeople at their company are
measured against their quota and held accountable.
Conclusions & other studies
The study results also indicate that individual sales success is not dependent upon
the growth rate of the company the salesperson works for.
When the different results of this research are taken into account, we can conclude
that sales performance is more likely dependent on the attributes of the individual
and sales environment characteristics over company-related influences.

3. Steve W Martin also conducted other studies concerning the right character traits
and attributes you need to become a top salesperson. Two of those studies are
mentioned here briefly.
A salesperson’s seven deadly sins (2010)

4. Seven personality traits of top performers (2011)