There’s a lot to be said for a good sales team.  I watched the CEO of a very successful company interview with Harrington Starr not so long ago and she referred to the employees as engineers which resonated with me, in a sense.

Working in the hospitality industry taught me a lot, there were the people that polished cutlery and made sure there was clean plates who were referred to as the engine! Without them, there would be nothing to present the food on, no forks to eat with... did that mean they couldn’t deal with guests at the front of the restaurant? No!

What has that got to do with sales and the traits in building out the sales team? The characters within the engineers and engines! 

Not everyone is set out to be a sales person, it’s a tough industry with knock-backs as well as the well-publicised highs.

If I was to build my own sales team, here’s what I would look for:

• The do’er - The one that no task is too big or too small. An individual that makes the team competitive and is always wanting to do more.
• The dreamer - The one on cloud 9.  Going after the big fish and thinking anything is possible and as is enthusiastic as a child on Christmas morning. 
• The realist -  The one that pursues the achievable and wouldn’t dare take a risk because god forbid if something out of the ordinary happened. 
• The motivated - The one who pushes to succeed, pushes to be the best but who pushes those around them also to strive for greatness.
• The glue – You, the leader! What are all those traits without the right person leading from the front, extracting those qualities out of those individuals? Absolutely sweet f-all!

If there is one thing that I can say that I have learned over the last few months, it is anyone has the ability to be a great salesperson, but the key to becoming a successful one is often down to the mentor and leader.  Knowledge, experience and track records are of course important, and it is how people win interviews as it is listed on their CV.  The people that win jobs are the characters.

If you are looking to grow out your team and are interested in speaking about what might be missing in your team, or even what a ‘nice to have’ would be, please reach out to me on catherine.obeirne@harringtonstarr.com or call me directly on 0203 5877007