A self starter with strong communication skills; able to work independently but also a team player; aggressive and highly motivated. Several years sales experience, preferably in our industry, with a post secondary degree.

While interviewing for these qualities may not seem particularly illogical, there are two flaws. First, the typical job interview does absolutely nothing to uncover whether your candidates truly possess the talents you are looking for (which we address in chapter five). The second flaw is with the identification of the talents themselves. Self starter, communication skills, team player, highly motivated—these "qualities" are not nearly specific enough. It is probably accurate to say that we would want to hire these qualities for all of the different sales jobs—perhaps for any job at all! You need to be far more precise in naming the talents you seek. You must learn how to hire people that are naturally "wired" for your exact sale type.

Over the course of 25 years I have identified and refined 10 different selling talents. After you read their definitions you may realize that you have several different sale types within your organization—each requiring different talents—that are currently being executed by the same salespeople. This usually explains why you have salespeople that seem to always sell the same few products or services, and rarely sell others.

Of the 10 Selling Talents, the first six deal with how people are hard-wired in terms of work ethic, tolerance levels, ability to influence, and aptitude for abstract communication and thinking. One person’s idea of "working hard" can often put another person to sleep. Some people’s idea of fun on the job can be hell to others. Top salespeople all influence other people very well, but their specific communication abilities vary greatly. We can all think of someone for instance who is very persuasive, but not particularly articulate.

These first six are must-haves; your candidates must possess the exact needed arrangement of all six. Talents seven through ten however are more preference than talent, and with these you have some leeway. This will be explained when you learn the talent-based interview process in chapter five. Let’s get to our selling talents.

Talent 5. Need: Create versus Established

A client of ours is a partner in a construction company specializing in commercial ventilation systems. They have a good reputation and they bid on, and win, many commercial installation jobs.

A few years ago this company took on a new "product." They felt that annual maintenance contracts for commercial building ventilation systems (not unlike an annual maintenance contract for a home furnace or central air conditioning) would be a relevant addition to their offerings. And they were right. But from a "need" point of view, these two sales jobs are completely different.

When the salesperson tries to illustrate why her company is the best choice for the construction side of the business, the need is known. That is, we already know that there is a building project going on. Without having to ask, we know there is the need for a ventilation system. The prospect does not have to use my client’s company necessarily, but they do have to have a ventilation system. The need has already been established before the sale even begins. But this is not true for the maintenance side of the business. Although there may be tremendous value to purchasing a maintenance contract, it is not essential. The need must first be created. It is of course very common to have related product lines like this—it’s just good business. But in this example, the two sale types are very different for the salespeople, and certain things must be structured accordingly. This is why you have heard me say that you may well have several different sale types in one company—requiring different talents—and why many of you have had experiences where your salespeople just don’t do well with certain products or services that you feel are such "natural companions" to your core products.

Some salespeople do very poorly when it comes to creating the need but excel when the need is already established. Others thrive on the challenge of creating need. We must appreciate that when the need has not yet been established, the sale has a whole extra step. You can’t even begin the "selling process" until there is need.

Author Derek Gatehouse has spent thirty years as a sales rep, sales manager, sales VP, and sales trainer at companies in many different industries. He's currently the CEO of Vendis Inc., a New York-based consulting and training firm. This is his first book. He lives in Montreal with his family.

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