The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [47]
Strong ego is crucial in sales because it means you will have the drive and personal ambition to close as many sales as possible and the armor to not take repeated and even harsh rejections personally. Such drive and ambition mean that high-dominance people are decisive in taking action and making decisions. They like control, can’t stand inaction, and thrive on challenges. Most successful CEOs are high-dominance. That’s how they get the job done! Someone who exhibits low dominance is much more cautious, consultative, and nondemanding.
Influence has to do with how you interact in social situations and how well and how much you communicate. High-influence people love people . They are naturally empathetic, easily putting themselves in other people ’s positions and understanding their points of view. They work well on teams and are fast and energetic. They are also persuasive, communicative, and verbal. Low-influence people are serious, logical, factual, and probing.
Steadiness is all about how patient, persistent, and thoughtful you are. High-steadiness people are deliberate in their actions and decisions. They work steadily and cohesively with others, but are most happy behind the scenes. They are good listeners and have the ability to gain support from others. Low-steadiness people are incessant multitaskers. They move fast and initiate action.
Compliance has to do with how you relate to structure and organization. High-compliance people always plan ahead. They are cautious in their actions and decisions and they work well alone. They like organization and structure, and they work accurately and precisely. Low-compliance people think of the big picture and are not as cautious in their actions. They will wing it more than a high-compliance person. They see gray areas and are more general and independent in their thinking.
The recipe for a superstar is not just a high level of one trait. It is a combination of different intensities of each trait. To understand how these traits work together, let’s think about sales. Top producers exhibit high influence. They are empathetic and have a psychological need to bond with others, to find something likable about every person. This is a wonderful trait to find in a salesperson. They just keep going at the client every which way, trying to find more and more ways to serve and please that client. They also see every one’s best side, which helps them make friends out of their clients.
But make no mistake; influence by itself is not enough. People who are very high influence and strongly empathetic are too understanding and they don’t close sales. However, if your candidate’s personality combines high influence with high dominance, you’ve found your sales superstar. They will bond like crazy with the buyer, but the high dominance makes them expect a sale and they will keep selling, if only for that buyer’s own good. In other words, high-dominance or ego-driven people may passionately believe that you should have their product and feel compelled to sell it to you, no matter how much you resist. This sounds pushy, but if blended with empathy, this person will close with perfection.
Further, high dominance may not be the ideal characteristic for a superstar receptionist or administrative assistant or anyone who needs to be more team-oriented. But for sales it’s a perfect fit. Only a person with an extra dose of strong ego and a psychological need to take control of every situation barrels into a client eight times after the client has