The Best Sales Reps are GRITTY.
Have you ever heard of GRIT? If not, and you’re interested in hiring the best sales team possible, you’re definitely missing out.
For this article we’d like to discuss the work of leading psychologist and professor at UPenn, Angela Duckworth. Angela is well known for her work in human psychology, examining the particular traits in people that lead to success. Her recent book on the matter, “GRIT – the power of passion and perseverance” arrives at one quite profound conclusion: That someone’s ‘grittiness’ is the sole greatest determining factor in their level of success in life. She defines someone as having GRIT when they exhibit certain key qualities around repeated perseverance, determination, dedicated repetitive practice and disciplined loyalty to mastering a field. Most interestingly, she specifically pinpointed IQ level and perceived talent to be a completely unreliable indicator of success, noting the numerous examples of undetermined, unfocused, yet highly intelligent or talented people in the world who achieve very little.
When examining the world of business and sales, Duckworth points to GRIT being highly applicable in that field. In short, the higher a Sales candidate’s GRIT, the higher their potential to do well on a sales team, hit targets and drive revenue. You may wonder how to evaluate GRIT – so here are a few things to think about when interviewing a candidate:
1. Sales candidates with high GRIT show a strong ability to move from one project to the next, only after initial project completion or while spearheading both projects to completion simultaneously. Low GRIT candidates get distracted easily and leave unfinished projects in their wake frequently.
2. Do they stay in one industry, service or product set despite the odd bad year or set back, versus jumping their sales career from one industry to the other? High GRIT candidates can absorb set backs and have a deeper appreciation for staying in one lane.
3. How long have they chased a qualified high value prospect before winning them as a client? High GRIT candidates know what to chase and stick with it to win business. Low GRIT sales representatives will lose traction in long haul prospecting, and only be able to close constant low hanging fruit. They may lack long term account development ability.
4. How persistent are they in their sales roles and especially when facing a high percentage rejection ratio ? Do they quit tough roles or stick with them and learn how to master their opportunity pipeline management in their role? GRITTY sales representatives stick with it and relish in incremental learning gained through tenure.
5. Talk with the sales candidate about their personal life pursuits. Often high GRIT candidates can discuss life long hobbies, activities and passions outside of their work that they have pursued for years, if not decades. They relish in tenured service towards one discipline or focus area and the expertise that results. Low GRIT candidates often bounce between hobbies or pursuits, and stay involved in them for short stints before doing something different. They enjoy ‘mixing it up’ and like ‘keeping things fresh’ versus the dogged pursuit of expertise, and like being more ‘exciting’ of a person in that sense. GRITTY sales reps, can ironically be the most steadfast and thereby appear more ‘dull’ in their personal lives.