Here is a compendium of four of the most
basic characteristics that I’ve collected from clients.
1. A professional sales person strives continually to do a good job.
This sounds so simple, but it is often the first complaint I hear. The world is full of sales people who have plateaued at a certain average level of performance and are content to remain there. Too many sales people are satisfied with just doing the job -- with mediocre performance. Why? Because they don’t see it as profession, they see their work as a job, a necessary inconvenience that fills the work week and provides a paycheck.
The
professional sales person sees the job as a challenge to continually strive for greater performance and more personal growth. He/she understands that professionalism demands commitment to excellent performance, and strives to deliver.
2. A professional sales person is a good employee.
I wish I had a dollar for every sales person I’ve run across who thinks of himself as an independent business person with no compulsion to follow the company’s directions. They consider themselves outside of the world defined by the policies, strategies, goals and procedures of their employer. Believing that their
relationships with their customers are unshakeable and personal, they provide lip service to their manager’s directions, and go about their jobs as they see fit. They mistakenly equate experience with competence.Tacky. Misguided. Unprofessional.
3. A professional sales person is committed to
personal growth
.
Every profession in the world expects a minimum degree of competence to enter the profession. That’s why lawyers must pass the bar exam, ministers and social workers must graduate from college, teachers must pass their student teaching experience, and EMT technicians must pass their exam
to be certified.
Not only does every profession have minimum requirements, so too every profession then demands continual improvement of those practitioners who are dedicated to that profession. That is why lawyers have conferences, nurses and teachers have in-service...[Click Here To Read The Entire Article Online] 
