4 Predictors You Will Be a Top Sales Rep in the Future

Sales reps who can prepare for the new face of the future will be in a prime position to become top reps in their future careers, and they may even grow into sales leaders who  will become models for others to emulate.

The game of sales is evolving rapidly, and like the proverbial cream, those who keep up with these changes will inevitably rise to the top. So how do you know if you will be among this rising sales vanguard? Ask yourself if you have one of the following four qualities:

You Are an Innovator Who Differentiates by Adopting New Technologies and Approaches

Innovation is helping sales reps connect with clients in astounding new ways. Things like sending a personal video to a prospect or leveraging demo video assets from your pre sales team will soon become the new normal. Sales reps who embrace changes in technology are effective in not only getting their clients information quicker, faster, and more effectively, but also how you stay ahead of peers that are soing just the bare minimum. By enabling the most direct communication and clearest video messaging, they reduce friction and help accelerate leads through the funnel. 

You Are Continually Adding New Skills and Refining Techniques

“Talent” only gets you so far; practice is the real secret sauce that separates the pros from the dreamers. Continuously training and honing your craft will be critical in your long term sales career.

LeBron James, for example, averaged over 30 points per game his senior year, but he knew that his skills would stand out less once he rose to the ranks of seasoned pros. Rather than just assume he would be great, he showed up first for warm-ups before practice and is almost always the last to leave, helping hone his skills while adding new ones to make up for his weaknesses.

It’s the commitment to training and investing in your craft that will help you excel or become the elite in your profession. This willingness to refine, adapt and upskill can similarly help reps break pace from their peers and separate from the pack to stay consistently ahead.

You Have the Courage to Be Coached

Arrogance and insecurity go hand-in-hand, so those who are willing to put their ego in check ironically gain the most confidence and respect over time. They also open themselves up to opportunities to improve. By accepting coaching and genuinely taking feedback to heart, they gain the outside perspective they need to recognize weaknesses and opportunities that help them refine their approach and close more.

We are always so inspired by our clients’ courage to be coached by us, to be open to feedback and their drive to learn and get better. Most people will say they are coachable, but very few actually are. Being coachable is not just about hearing feedback. It’s about internalizing and self reflecting on your improvement areas, and then actually practicing and role playing the new techniques and refining them until they become muscle memory. What you do with feedback and how you apply it is what defines that coachability.

You Are Willing to Take Risks & Challenge Yourself

The words “opportunity” and “risk” go practically hand-in-hand, yet too many reps are only willing to take on easy tasks and do them in a familiar way.  Consistancy is important and your friend, and complacency is the enemy.  

While this may help you maintain middling numbers, you can never be the best top performing sales rep unless you are willing to try something new and break the pattern.

This is calculated risk-taking I am talking about, not reckless choices.  It can be something as simple as trying new techniques during a demonstration, investing in monthly coaching sessions through the year, teaming with another reps that brings additional strengths to the table,  or it could be bolder, like trying to sell your solution to an incremental vertical market. The biggest risks often pay off the biggest rewards. 

There are many additional traits that were not mentioned in this post that should still be considered like trust, relationship building, etc. However if you are working on the above traits, you are well on your way of being a top sales rep in your feild.