The Attributes of a Great Salesperson
Truly, this is the Holy Grail in sales organizations. Sales recruiters are always looking for the “intangibles” that make for a great sales producer. Management is frustrated in their hiring. HR is always on the lookout for seminars and classes that can help improve performance from this vital part of every organization. Sales Managers have their bookcases filled with the latest theory on unlocking the keys to attract this special talent.
Recently, I attended a funeral of a wonderful Atlantan. Louis Siegel was a very successful sales person for a competitive specialty chemical company to mine. As Rabbi Neal Sandler delivered the eulogy, I learned about Mr. Siegel’s life, his family and friends. I also heard the Rabbi summarize why he was so successful and those words stayed with me until I asked the family for permission to use part of the eulogy for this article.
Rabbi Sandler put in concise words the characteristics that separate top performers from average. For more than forty years, he was a successful salesman for a major chemical company. As an outgoing individual who loved to be with people and kibitz with them, Louis was a natural salesman. His customers loved him because of his fun-loving personality and they respected him because of his honorable and gentlemanly ways.
Louis genuinely cared about people. He made it a point to learn people’s names whenever and wherever he met them. His training in sales encouraged him in that regard, but it was his nature to treat everyone like a mensch, a unique individual, worthy of his respect. He also made it a point to express his gratitude to people whenever they did something nice for him.
Louis Siegel was a mensch, a wonderful Yiddish word for a “good person”. What else needs to be said? Customers respected him because of his honorable and gentlemanly way. He said thank you; he treated everyone with respect.
I went to pay my respects to Louis Siegel and his family on August 26, 2010 but I learned something special and for his memory I wanted to share with our readers.
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