The Qualities and Intelligence of Good Sales People

An interview with Virginie Ferrouillat, EMLV Alternately Curriculum Manager, initially broadcast in French on Xerfi Canal. It is the journalist Mounia Van de Casteele, who leads the conversation.

The video was released in December 2018

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYhhQPTnhqQ[/embedyt]

Mounia Van de Casteele: The business of salesmen has evolved a lot over time. And not only the job, its environment too. Thanks to digital and social networks, the customer now has new channels available, which tends to change the balance of power in his favor.

MVDC: In this context, how to explain the rehabilitation of sellers?

Virginie Ferrouillat: In the collective unconscious, we all have the image of the seller speaker, who forces a little hand at the time of closing a sale. But this image is outdated. The reality is different today.

The skills to develop to perform this job are different. They are mainly environmental, as you explained.

MVDC: Do you have some numbers to give us?

VF: If we look at the latest APEC (Agency for the employment of Managers in France) survey, it places the commercial function in the Top 5 most wanted profiles. Once graduated, students enter the labor market easily.

This commercial function is one of the functions of interest to our students with this diversity of situations encountered. Customers change breaks the monotony. It’s a business that moves, we have important challenges, as in sports. For those who like the goals to reach, the notion of challenge is a personal motivation element.

MDV: What are the essential qualities to be a good sales person?

VF: I will talk about who intervenes in the realization of the sale. It is not about the person who exercises in the commercial direction, nor in the support, in front or after-sale.

For the one who makes the sale, there is an intelligence, a knowledge of the trade, a practice of the trade. It translates into a good control of the process from prospecting to the conclusion of the sale. How to contact a customer? How to make him express a need? Listening, having an understanding of the client, being able to get in touch with him, to create this relationship of trust … all this is not easy.

MDV: Trust is important. How can we learn this notion?

 VF: Some profiles will be more comfortable. They will intuitively have this emotional intelligence in the relationship with others.

But that’s not enough, you do not improvise everything, you also have to be trained. You have to work your listening skills, that’s part of the training delivered.

A good salesperson must, therefore, demonstrate adaptability, intelligence, and confidence.

More information about Company Projects for Future Sellers at EMLV. Find the contact information for Virginie Ferrouillat.