Sales professionals are coping with longer sales cycles, more informed buyers and intense levels of competition. They need every competitive advantage to help them make connections, uncover opportunities and sell. What if you could take their pain away? Or at least, make it better.
Eloqua has uncovered some of the most common sales personalities and the things they worry about most.
If you recognize some or all of these personality types then start looking into how to anticipate their needs, get marketing and sales on the same page, and use sales-enablement tools to help solve it.
1. The Cowboy
The Cowboy is a loner. The field is his range. He’s got a quota in his sights and needs no-one’s help.
Ready for action and always on the prowl, the Cowboy is full of initiative but prone to go off message. It will take some convincing that he needs Marketing as a partner.
• The Good: Moves Fast, Understands Buyers’ Needs • The Bad: Tends to Go Off Message • Needs: Help Delivering a Consistent, Effective Pitch
2. Chronic Complainer
This is possibly the most difficult sales rep to please. If the Chronic Complainer doesn’t make her number, it’s not her fault.
She constantly feels under equipped. Marketing doesn’t supply enough timely, yet organised information. She lacks content – or maybe she has too much content. Whatever the case, Marketing is underperforming. Not her.
• The Good: Knows the Market, Customer Pain Points • The Bad: Underestimates the Value of Marketing • Needs: An Easy Place to Find Organised Resources
3. The Sales King
Like The Cowboy, the Sales King is all about action. He loves the attention success brings – and he’s very successful.
The Sales King knows what works in the field. He can tell Marketing what programmes are resonating with leads. But check your ego at the door. The Sales King doesn’t like to share credit.
• The Good: Customers Rave, Knows How to Use Assets • The Bad: Ego-Driven • Needs: Marketing’s Intelligence on Prospects (even though he won’t admit it)
4. The Accountant
The Accountant measures deals with the formulaic analysis that a Ph.D. of Statistics would envy.
She knows what’s working and what isn’t. And she’s got the numbers to prove it. This kind of mathematical analysis is invaluable to Marketing. But you need to parse the narrative from all the spreadsheets she’ll hand you.
• The Good: Analytical Thinker, Process-Oriented • The Bad: Gets Lost in the Details • Needs: Prioritisation toward What’s Important
5. The Chicken little
The Chicken Little is the salesperson most likely to whisper in your ear that you’ll never make this year’s targets.
Trouble is constantly befalling this person’s field, company, even industry. He may actually be a talented salesperson, but always feels out gunned by the competition. Marketing’s goal is to combat their natural pessimism by calling out bright spots.
• The Good: Adaptable to Market Changes • The Bad: Overly Focused on Tactics, Not Strategy • Needs: To Be Guided toward What’s Promising
Find out more about sales and how you can help them succeed by visiting Eloqua’s Field Guide to Salespeople http://media.eloqua.com/documents/Eloqua+Field+Guide+to+Sales_UK.pdf
