TRANSCRIPT:
As I briefly mentioned in the previous video there are four main types of sales professional they fall into the following categories –
- Hard worker
- Lone Wolf
- Relationship builder
- The debater
Only the debater is going to have success moving forward in complex B2B sales over the next decade. Let’s very quickly run through each types of these individuals so you can pinpoint where you are at and you can see what you need to do to change to become more of the debater type.
Hard Worker
The work is exactly what they sound like. These are the reps who stay late and are always willing to put in the extra effort. They are self-motivated and don’t give up easily.
The make more calls an hour than anyone else on the team and they’re always looking for feedback on ways they can improve their game. These individuals believe that they do the right thing, with more effort than anyone else.
Lone Wolf
Lone Wolves are deeply self-confident and as a result they tend to follow their own instincts and gut feelings rather than follow the rules.
They often drive sales leaders crazy, don’t complete CRM entries and they seemingly do well but this is more down to survivor bias. This is a phenomenon where you will see lots of lone wolves having success, but this is only because the lone wolves that do not have success are sacked early on in the sales career. This skews the data on how well this selling archetype does over the long term.
Relationship Builder
Just as the name implies, relationship builders are all about building and nurturing strong personal relationships with their potential buyers they are generous with their time and they work hard to ensure that their customers’ needs are met.
Customers typically love relationship builders but it doesn’t mean that they give their money to them.
The Debater
Then we have the debater. They have a deep understanding of the customer’s business and user understanding to push the customer’s thinking and teach them how they can compete more effectively.
Importantly, they are not afraid to share their views, debate them, even when it’s potentially controversial to do so. These debaters are assertive and they tend to push back on the customer’s a little on their thinking and on pricing. They do not do this in an annoying on aggressive manner, assertive as the best way to describe it.
