Sales has always been more than just numbers –it’s about understanding people, building relationships, and finding the motivation to push forward, even in the face of rejection. But while sales is the beating heart of any company, the profession often carries an unfair social stigma.
I believe this stems from poor representation by individuals who lack the essential qualities of a successful salesperson, along with a misunderstanding of what it truly takes to thrive in sales.
The Key Traits of Successful Salespeople
I recently came across the Harvard Business Review classic “What Makes a Good Salesman”, which addressed the persistent issue of high employee turnover in sales-heavy industries like insurance –about 50% within the first year and 80% within three years. The article referenced a 1964 study by Mayer and Greenberg, and I was struck by how relevant its findings remain 60 years later. The authors focused on understanding this costly problem and revealed that companies struggled to identify the traits that predict successful sales performance. After seven years of research, they identified two key qualities essential for sales success:
- Empathy, which enables salespeople to understand and adapt to customer emotions, creating valuable feedback that can lead to successful sales.
- Ego drive, in the sense of having a personal need to make a sale, driven by the desire for conquest and achievement.
Both traits must work together to achieve sales success. Without ego drive, empathy can turn into sympathy, which may prevent a salesperson from persuading a customer to buy. Conversely, ego drive without empathy can lead to a forceful, bulldozing sales approach that alienates customers.
They also suggest that, since salespeople will often face failure more than success, a subtle balance must be found between an ego slightly weakened in a way that fuels the need for enhancement (i.e. close the sale), and an ego strong enough to be motivated by failure without being shattered by it.
This resonates with me personally. Salesmanship is at the core of the insurance industry, a field I’ve been connected to for as long as I can remember. Growing up in a family with a long tradition in insurance, words like “claim”, “policy”, and “deductible” were part of my vocabulary before I could even tie my shoes. But beyond the jargon, I’ve experienced firsthand how these traits are crucial in a profession where agents’ livelihoods depend entirely on sales success. With no fixed salary and commissions as their only income, insurance agents must keenly understand their clients’ needs while maintaining the drive to close deals, even in the face of frequent setbacks.
The Cost of Bad Hires
The article critiques traditional selection methods that often lead to hiring unsuitable candidates. This is especially costly in insurance, where building long-term client relationships is key.
Poor hiring decisions result in wasted training resources, lost sales, and reduced morale.
Mayer and Greenberg’s study highlighted that the importance of selecting candidates based on the right traits is more important than experience or industry knowledge.
Recognizing this, TraitForward, one of our portfolio companies, created psychometric assessments to evaluate the core traits essential for each job role. This offers companies a more accurate, scientific approach to assessing a candidate’s true potential, leading to smarter hiring decisions and reduced turnover.
Building a New Generation of Salespeople
Recently, I helped broker a collaboration between TraitForward and a major software vendor in the insurance industry. This partnership enables insurance agencies to better assess candidates’ traits, significantly improving their hiring efficiency and profitability, by ensuring the right people are selected for the role.
At Starttech Ventures, we’re proud to support innovative startups like TraitForward, which help businesses optimize their operations and unlock new growth potential. For me personally, this initiative goes beyond business –it’s about shaping a new generation of salespeople, empowering them to succeed through authentic relationships, empathy, and genuine drive, not pushy tactics.
We shouldn’t settle for maintaining the status quo. Progress doesn’t come from following trends –it comes from leading them, and that’s exactly what we’re here to do.