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Over the past four years or so, I have taught hundreds of MBA students from almost every country you can think of. I have taught students from France, Sweden, Mexico, Ecuador, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Norway, UK and the United States, to name but a few. And almost all ask the same three questions:

1. What makes a good salesperson?
2. Were you any good as a salesperson?
3. Why do you live in France?

There are, of course, many more questions, but these are the three that come up time and again during the courses that I present on sales, international sales and international sales strategy.

The first question is easy to answer, isn’t it? We all know good, successful, honest salespeople and the not-so-successful ones. All we have to do is isolate the common factors, figure out their importance, put them into a matrix and the people that have the highest scores will of course be the best salespeople, won’t they?

We can look at the requirements of a salesperson, such as sales technique, product knowledge, sales tools, activity rates, management input, product competitiveness and remuneration package. We then decide which are the most important and give them a rating, for instance product knowledge has a rating of six, whilst remuneration package may have a rating of seven. We can then create a simple matrix such as the one below, where we assess the way the salesperson either uses the resources available or their skill level in this factor:

Using these factors and giving them ratings and scores, the salesperson with the highest score should be the best. We can use similar matrices while recruiting, knowing that we will have an empirical score.
Unfortunately, unlike many jobs, selling – especially at the one-to-one level – is not an exact science. We can take many tests on sales technique, product knowledge and use of sales tools, and I can almost guarantee that the salesperson who achieved the highest scores will not be the number one salesperson in the company.

While a matrix such as the one above is useful, in reality it is more of a guide than a decision-making tool.

Getting back to the initial question, what makes a good salesperson? It is any number of factors, but above all it is the drive, determination, confidence and motivation to succeed that overwhelms almost anything else.

This brings us nicely to the next two questions:

Were you any good as a salesperson?

My initial response is to ask the students if they believe everything I have told them to date. As the lecturer, I am the expert (just the same as the salesperson should be the expert); therefore, everything I have told them should be true, shouldn’t it? However, I will always tell some fantastic tale or make up some outrageous fact that cannot possibly be true, and, inevitably, not one person will contest the point.

This does not necessarily show I was or even am a good salesperson. What it does show is that if your audience believes you and you have the confidence in your own ability, you can say almost anything, and
you will be believed. Notice I said confidence and not arrogance.

And for the record, I like to think I was a fairly good salesperson!

Why do you live in France?

This is possibly the simplest one to answer, but actually was dependent upon the previous two. One of the goals we set as a family was to spend some time living and working abroad. To achieve this, it was important that we succeeded in our business life, enabling us to make this kind of move.

Coming back to the factors that make a good salesperson, we can break them down into two major areas that dominate including confidence and motivation.

These are intrinsically linked. If you are doing a major sales presentation, the more you practice, the better you will get, and the more your confidence will rise. If you succeed in the presentation, it may mean that you achieved a higher commission level or maybe a higher status in the organisation and would be a strong motivating factor for you.

The motivation to achieve this higher status will ensure that you work harder on your presentation than normal, giving you greater confidence in your ability to succeed.

Conversely, if the major sales presentation is not a strong motivating factor, you will probably be less likely to spend as much time practicing and, as a consequence, your confidence level will be lower.

We all know the term ‘willpower’, which can be described as the ability to assert your will over your actions, and how important this is, if you want to succeed. If we look at the elements of willpower and break it down into its most basic key elements (as described by the Willpower Organisation in 2007), then the major factors become fairly clear.

If we use this in the sales environment, we can see that desire is almost as important as reward. Both independently can offset the pain required to achieve the desired outcomes. So while we assume monetary reward is the overriding factor, in most cases, it has no more impact than desire. If we look at specific examples, you can see that for people who really achieve in their lives or achieve their goals, desire is often the most important factor.

A couple of people stand out in the field of sport. Before professionalism in athletics, the desire to be the best, to win a gold medal, to run the first four-minute mile (as Roger Bannister did), were the only motivations these people needed. If rewards did come, it was as a by-product of the desire to achieve. In the modern world, David Beckham’s desire to play for his country in another World Cup has meant that the rewards he was expecting have not only been stopped but, according to reports, he’s actually paying for the privilege. Desire vastly outweighs reward.

In business, I know Phil Mims, President of Nussentials, who has that desire and will always work harder, longer, smarter, and will achieve his desired results as his motivation is immense. In Phil’s case, motivation involved taking a new business, achieving phenomenal growth in the direct sales channel and giving 5 per cent of turnover to their “feed the kids” programme in the process. Phil had retired and had the opportunity to give something back. While obviously being outstanding, he is motivated primarily by his desire and not by rewards.

If we are looking at motivation, it is as important to understand the desire of the person as much as their need for remuneration. In the direct selling environment, as in any sales environment, the productivity of a salesperson is a function of their motivation and ability. We know that with a large salesforce, often using direct sales as a secondary income, the level of ability is unlikely to be that of a fully professional, fulltime sales force.

In order for productivity to achieve economical levels, motivation must, by necessity, play a higher role than would be expected. We also know that motivation is not only monetarily driven but in the main comes from desire and reward against the pain of achieving this.

What does this mean in real terms?

Let’s take Phil’s company, Nussentials, as an example. Its product range is in the health- food sector, and all sales are through direct selling, so it is imperative for the management to understand the desires of its salesforce. If we know the desire, we can link to the overall package to ensure motivation across the whole salesforce.

People join companies in the direct selling field for a number of reasons. Surprisingly, money is not the overriding factor. In Nussentials’ case, they have a number of ways of increasing the motivational aspects of their salesforce.

By utilising a traditional direct sales model, with a strong compensation plan, reward and recognition program, for those people that reward is key to our meeting this need, with the motivational results one would expect.

With health and wellness growing in importance, Nussentials product line links well. Here, we look at lifestyle choices in terms of nutrition, so remuneration and recognition may not necessarily be as important as the fact that the company is in the correct industry. The desire to be linked with a company in the health-food sector outweighs whether the compensation plan leads the industry.

With the credit crunch, we all know that the likelihood of charities receiving the same amount of donations that they did last year is low. However, in affluent societies, a large proportion of the population believes that it is imperative to help those less able than ourselves. Nussentials, by giving a portion of their proceeds, ensures that its desire to give is fulfilled, even if it has been achieved through a third-party route and not directly out of its own pocket.

Nussentials, therefore, reaches a greater population as its ability to meet the desire element of motivation is across more areas than a traditional company.

Whether it is a move to France, producing an award-winning magazine, running a four-minute mile or producing an outstanding direct selling company, find the desire, ensure that desire is tangible and you will have a very motivated person.

Because product is a function of motivation and ability, increase motivation and increase productivity, which, in today’s environment, is a highly desirable attribute.

A perspective by Robert Johnson, MBA Lecturer at ESC Rennes, France. Robert lives in France with his family, and lectures part time in international sales and international sales strategy at ESC Rennes (one of the major business universities in France) to MBA students.

Robert provides help and advice to companies throughout the world on sales and sales strategy.