Its all about character
According to the group The Trusted Adviser, a reps character over their selling skills, product knowledge or attitude is what ultimately wins or loses business. We may or may not be aware of the message we are communicating with our character, depending on our degree of self awareness and willingness and ability to be honest with ourselves, the group says.
The Trusted Adviser assessed 50 medical reps, 50 software sales people, 30 medical sales managers and directors and 100 customer facing personnel. During their research, they assessed 16 character traits divided into the categories of mature, opportunities for growth and immature. Most of the participants self-assessed, but the 50 software sales reps were also assessed on a 360 degree basis.
The group says there appears to be a consistent pattern of character traits among sales people which was not industry specific or governed by position.
Trustworthiness, perseverance and acknowledgment were consistently the top three traits, while patience and selflessness were consistently the bottom two traits.
Salespeople saw themselves as having 5 mature traits and classified the remainder as opportunities for growth, while the 360 results showed that others saw them as having two mature traits, nine opportunities for growth and five immature traits.
On self assessment, the group says, sales people saw trustworthiness as their most mature trait, but their colleagues and customers doing 360 assessments saw it as an opportunity. And trust has much to do with others perceptions, the group says.
Mature and sound character, the group says, commands trust and respect. It communicates inner strength and within a sales person and sales leader, it communicates a confidence to customers, colleagues and subordinates alike, The Trusted Adviser says. Sound character will often design and define future selling relationships and ultimately our sales reputation.
Surely there is no industry more in need of a sound level of trust than pharma. Portraying sound character is perhaps, therefore, more important for pharma reps than for any other sales person. Do you know what type of character you portray to your customers?
The Trusted Adviser offers an interpreter tool that assesses individual sales character free of charge. So take about ten minutes to see where you stand when it comes to character by visiting http://personal-transformation.com/default.aspx?cid=974. You also can download the full white paper of the study at www.thetrustedadviser.com.
Let us know how you do and well collate the anonymous results and share them with the group.