Why commitment beats talent in sales - Every time

There is a lot of talk about sales and the qualities that enable a salesperson to succeed. Naturally, there is the skill that everyone talks about, but which is far from being the most important: closing. I would say that the ability to prospect is more important (based on having a strong desire or being able to recover quickly from rejection). But the most important skill is demonstrated by the video below (found on Twitter here) showing a tree that grew in a stop sign post in Los Angeles. That quality is commitment.

Commitment is a person's ability to do everything possible, as long as it is ethical, of course, to achieve their goals. I think the tree below has shown great commitment to achieving its goals!

Calvin Coolidge disait:

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not.Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Eduction will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent."

The problem is that during recruitment:

1. Companies too often use the CV to chose who to talk to or not. This very often exclude the really hungry people that might not have the right keywords in their CV. But are prepared to do all it takes - ethically of course! - to succeed. As already mentioned, a CV has an 18% predictability of performance. So if you use a CV, I would jokingly suggest to toss a coin to choose candidates you want to talk to, you increase by 2.7 times your chance to make a good decision :)

2. Recruiters too often focus on technical skills. A salesperson who is highly committed will do everything possible to learn the techniques. A salesperson who is not committed will quickly give up. We see this on a daily basis during our various sales transformation programs.

3. Being able to accurately assess a salesperson's commitment during the recruitment process is difficult, not only because of human bias, but also because candidates are salespeople and therefore know how to sell themselves. For example, if the candidate senses that this is a sought-after skill, they will tailor their answers to convey that message.

The solution? Remove all biases and implement a scientific sales assessment based on these character traits. Follow this up with a robust process built around scorecards.

If you are recruiting for sales positions and want to understand how to assess the skills that will truly help your salespeople and your company succeed, contact us. Or download the document that allows you to self-assess your process to identify potential gaps.