One of the most frustrating experiences for a business owner or sales manager is a salesperson who performs pretty well in the beginning but then plateaus. You are left wondering what happened and why they aren't pushing themselves more to continue to grow your business.
 
In this episode, you will learn:

· The answer lies within a salesperson's personality

· The difference between a high-Drive salesperson and a low-Drive salesperson

· Strategies to help prevent your salespeople from plateauing

 

Subscribe to this podcast today and stay up-to-date on the latest in sales psychology.
 

Be sure you are only hiring the best salespeople: Hiring the Best Sales Talent [2020 Ultimate Guide]

Looking for high-Drive salespeople? Request a free sales assessment to see if your next sales candidate has the Drive to succeed in sales.  

At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 80 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
 If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today:
 https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
 
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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:29]  Chris Croner: Dr Chris Croner here asking you, has your salesperson plateaued? If so, here's why.

[00:38]  This is something that comes up a lot when I speak to business owners and salespeople. They have a salesperson who performs pretty well. But when he or she reaches a certain level, he plateaus. It drives you crazy because you know, he can sell.

[00:53]  So, the question is why doesn't he push to higher ground so your company can grow?

[00:58]  The answer is often found in the psychology and the personality of the salesperson. Often they don't share the key personality trait we call Need for Achievement. An innate characteristic that high-achievers share, in which they're never satisfied. It drives them to set goals, meet them and then set even higher goals.

[01:23]  High-performance athletes share this trait. Which is why you hear stories about Michael Jordan pushing himself and everybody around him so hard, not only in games, but in practice. They put tremendous pressure on themselves, but the payoff is massive production.

[01:42]  Meanwhile, unfortunately, your less driven salesperson operates another way. He sets a goal that satisfies his lifestyle and calibrates his efforts to meet his goal, not necessarily your stretch goals. These types of salespeople know exactly what they need to do to hit their objective and they're very skilled at not overextending themselves beyond that program.

[02:09]  You can't teach a talented but non-driven salesperson. However, you may be able to push them higher with more frequent intervention and discussions about their performance. So, you can head off the subtle declines that can occur as the year wears on.

[02:24]  You can also think about compensation plans that make it a little tougher on the front-end, but more lucrative on the backend, so the salesperson must meet your goals in order to satisfy his goals.

[02:38]  See you guys next time. 
 
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[02:42]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[02:59]  Until next time, take care!