In many organizations, those in positions of management and leadership and those on the firing line of commission selling probably have the greatest impact on the overall success or failure of the organization. Strong managers are difficult enough to come by and those with real leadership ability are an even rarer find. This quality of leadership has, of course, a direct bearing in selecting and developing that other critical asset – the top commission salesperson.

By a “top commission salesperson” I do not mean someone who only services existing accounts, or accepts walk-in orders for a product/ service that tends to sell itself through unusually high demand or through marketing methods that build overwhelming marketplace awareness. I do mean someone who can go out into a highly competitive and often difficult world and get new business as well as make a major contribution to keeping existing business. I mean someone whose compensation is strongly based on their performance. Someone who puts their performance on the line. Since salespeople who perform well and are fairly rewarded tend to stay with the organization, let’s reduce this exploration to two questions: 1) “How do we select someone with strong potential to succeed in commission selling?” 2) “How do we provide management and leadership to help them succeed?”

As a basis for considering these questions, let’s look at a model for sales success. Three ingredients are required to succeed in commission selling: A strong Identity, Selling Skills, and Product Knowledge.

The Identity is complex. It includes personality characteristics, self-image and self-esteem, motivational factors, personal goals issues, energy level, and a host of other interrelated factors. It is, in essence, who the salesperson is. Three sources contribute to the identity. These include hereditary influences (which none of us could select in advance), the biochemistry of the individual (affected by nutrition and physical fitness), and conditioned or “learned” behavior (what we have been taught and what we have experienced). All of these factors are historical in nature. In a very real sense, “Who we are is where we have been.”

Selling Skills refers to generic skills in selling. Skills that, with minor adaptation can be applied to almost any product/service. These skills include prospecting, acquiring appointments, initiating the selling process, fact finding and qualifying, presenting the product/service, closing, converting resistance, and follow-up service. Fundamental to this range of skills is the ability to communicate and relate well to a wide variety of other human beings. Skill in asking questions and in listening is paramount. Selling is not telling, it is asking and listening.

Product Knowledge includes not only knowledge of the salesperson’s own product/service but also familiarity with competing and substitute products/services.

Throughout business and industry there is a strong tendency to base our selection practices, our training and development programs and our management and leadership of salespeople on the assumption that Product Knowledge is the most important of the three factors described, that Selling Skills is second in importance, and that the Identity is the least critical of the three ingredients for success.

Nothing could be further from reality. Experience and research repeatedly tell us that it is the Identity that is the most critical element in sales success. With a strong Identity, Selling Skills and Product Knowledge will be learned by the salesperson with or without the help of the organization. The organization’s best efforts to help will be wasted on the salesperson whose Identity is that of a person who does not “have their stuff together.”

A lot of experience and a variety of different research projects indicate the following three major reasons for the failure of commission salespeople:

• A lack of clear personal goals – Not having a specific purpose in life nor specific reasons to succeed in commission selling.
• Negative attitudes – Nonconstructive attitudes about self, the selling profession, the organization represented, products/services, and possibly, about life in general.
• Poor work habits – Poor work habits, particularly as related to consistent and persistent prospecting activity.

It is obvious that all three of these failure factors reside primarily within the Identity.  The Model for Sales Success and evidence regarding the failure of commission salespeople to perform leads to the following suggestions, first in selecting salespeople and then in managing and providing leadership for those you select.

1. From recruited candidates, use three major elements in the selection process: a) the in-depth interview b) reference checking, and c) personality profiling. Together these elements form a powerful selection process.
2. The in-depth interview is most useful in evaluating the Identity, but Selling Skills and Product Knowledge can also be assessed. Discuss recent history to assess relevant experience. Go further back to assess the person (“who we are is where we have been”). Ask questions and listen.
3. Work hard at reference checking. Because this is becoming more difficult, seek out less conventional sources of information. In selection, it is best to assume that “people seldom turn over new leaves.” All three elements of the Sales Success Model can be explored during reference checking.
4. Use a validated and well regarded Achiever personality assessment as a critical aspect of Identity assessment.
5. In Identity evaluation, look for the following major strengths: a) Strength of character and personal integrity, b) A balance between structure in work habits and the ability to improvise when required, c) Emotional maturity, d) A people orientation, e) Goal direction and competitive drive, f) A balance between psychological resiliency on one hand and sensitivity and empathy on the other, and g) High achievement drive and energy level. Most top salespeople possess most of them.
6. Remember that the selection process is much more a case of probabilities than certainties. You can, however, make your process thorough enough to significantly increase your probabilities of success.

Management and Leadership

1. Establish a clear, up-front “contract” with each salesperson you manage. This outlines what you expect of them and what support they can expect from you in return.
2. Work with each salesperson to establish specific performance goals. In many ways, goals are easier to manage than people.
3. Be sure the goals include not only sales goals but also goals for both the quantity and quality of sales activity. Sales can be influenced but are not controllable. Only sales activity is controllable.
4. Reinforce positive behavior, not just with tangible rewards, but with sincere and specific praise. Respond to negatives with coaching, counseling, and correction. Focus on goals and the behaviors required for success.
5. Top salespeople have a strong need for independence but they also recognize that the price for this is strong self management and self discipline. Assume they have this self discipline until proven otherwise, then move to help them progressively develop the selfreliance they need to succeed.
6. Provide “training” (skills-related) but also provide for “development” (identity-related).
7. Manage salespeople “one-at-a-time”. Treat them as individuals and different because they are.

An Investment in Success

For many organizations, the commission salesperson is the key to success and in a highly competitive economy can even be the criteria for survival. Time, effort and dollars invested in the selection process payoff. So does inspired, yet well-planned leadership of the sales effort. In both the selection and leadership of commission salespeople, patience is a virtue and often a necessity. Is it worth the investment and the patience? Remember, for most organizations and probably for yours, it is not just a cliche that,

Nothing happens until somebody sells something!

Article originally printed in St. Louis Commerce Magazine