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Sales is the process of highlighting the benefits offered by a product in order to meet a customer’s specific needs. Sales is a very challenging job; it’s easy to become a salesperson, but it’s not that simple to become an excellent one. Working in the highly competitive and challenging sales industry, what qualities do salespeople need to possess in order to rise above mediocrity? Furthermore, what qualities should salespeople possess in order to stand out from their competitors? To address the aforementioned issues, the world-renowned market research firm Gallup Management Consulting conducted extensive surveys and studies on nearly 500,000 salespeople. The findings show that excellent salespeople generally possess strong qualities in the following four areas: internal motivation ； Efficient style ； Sales skills ； The ability to build good relationships with clients. These four complement each other and are all indispensable. 1. Inner motivation: Different people have different inner motivations, such as self-esteem, happiness, money, etc. Yet all excellent salespeople share one thing in common: an endless drive to become outstanding individuals. This strong inner motivation can be developed through training and practice, but it cannot be taught. The sources of people’s internal motivation vary; these may include being driven by money, a desire for recognition, or a liking for extensive social interaction. Based on these different sources of internal motivation, salespeople can generally be divided into four types: achievement-oriented ones ； Competitive ； Self-actualizing ； Relational. Specifically, “achievement-oriented” salespeople are particularly eager for success and will make great efforts to achieve it ； “\"Competitive\" salespeople not only desire to be successful but also want to defeat their rivals (other companies or other salespeople) in order to gain a sense of satisfaction. They often step forward and say to their peers, \"I admit that you are the best salesperson this year, but I’m determined to outdo you.\"” ； “\"Self-actualizing\" salespeople tend to enjoy experiencing the glory of victory, and they always set themselves higher goals ； “The strength of ”relationship-oriented” salespeople lies in their ability to build and maintain good relationships with clients; they are often generous, meticulous, and go the extra mile in their work. \"Such salespeople are very rare,\" said a training manager at Minolta. \"We need salespeople who can patiently answer the tenth question a customer might ask, who are willing to stay with the client.\" ” There are no purely competitive, achievement-oriented, self-actualizing, or relationship-focused salespeople; excellent salespeople tend to possess some characteristics of the other three types as well. Moreover, salespeople who possess certain type traits will be more successful if they consciously develop more of the traits associated with other types of personalities. For example, if a “competitive” salesperson develops a greater sense of relationship-building, he will be better at maintaining good relationships with clients, which in turn will enable him to secure more orders. 2. A rigorous work style: Regardless of the internal motivation of sales staff, if they are disorganized, lack cohesion, and do not work hard, they will find it difficult to meet the increasing demands of customers. Excellent salespeople are always good at creating detailed and thorough work plans, and they are able to carry them out strictly in their subsequent work. In fact, there is nothing particularly magical about sales work; it simply requires thorough organization and hard work. A successful president said, “Our excellent salespeople are never careless or slow to act. If they say they will meet with a client in 2 days, you can be sure that they will be there at the client’s place in 2 days.” ” One of the best qualities that salespeople need most is \"hard work,\" rather than relying on \"luck\" or skills (although luck and skills can also be important sometimes) ； In other words, excellent salespeople sometimes get lucky because they work from early morning until late at night; they may work on a project until late at night, or continue to meet with clients after others have left work. 3. Ability to close sales: If a salesperson is unable to secure orders from customers, then all his skills, no matter how many or how good they are, are of no use. Without a deal, sales cannot be considered complete. Generally speaking, excellent salespeople always find ways to reach an agreement with the customer in order to close the sale successfully. How can one become an excellent salesperson? Research shows that it is important for salespeople to possess an indomitable spirit and the determination to see things through to the end; they should be as unafraid of failure as athletes, and not give up their efforts even until the last moment. Excellent salespeople tend to have firm faith in themselves and the products they sell; they are usually very confident and convinced that their decisions are correct ； They are very eager to close a deal and will usually use various methods, within the limits permitted by law and ethics, to ensure that the transaction is successful. 4. The ability to build relationships: In a marketing environment, what outstanding salespeople need to pay the most attention to is becoming experts at solving customers’ problems and developing relationships with them (future salespeople will no longer be mere salespeople, but rather consultants to their clients), striving to keenly understand their true needs. Excellent salespeople are usually like this: they are focused, patient, meticulous, quick to respond, good at listening, and very sincere ； They are able to put themselves in the customers’ shoes and view things from the customer’s perspective. Today, customers prefer salespeople to be their “business partners” rather than “playmates,” and salespeople should be well aware of this. What excellent salespeople do is not to try to please their clients, but rather to truly care about their clients’ interests, their business development directions, and how they can be of assistance to them.