Business Blog

Defining A Real Rockstar Salesperson

The new ads for Workday featuring “rockstars” makes me chuckle each time I see one. Although the ad is generic and includes many types of workers, “rockstar” has become predominantly known in the sales arena.

Most companies would welcome a “rockstar salesperson” to drive revenue to their bottom line. Locating, hiring, motivating, inspiring, and keeping top-level salespeople is very difficult!

Although I’m not particularly fond of the term “rockstar”, I can fully understand what it means in terms of sales and selling. A rockstar salesperson overachieves in selling, and no one else can seem to perform as well.

Sales Style and Attributes

I have worked with some of the most elite, enterprise-level salespeople in the B2B. These centered around Software, Digital Media, Data Centers, Internet Marketing, and other industries over the years.

Each one had their unique selling style. Several attributes (these are just three) separated them from the group of salespeople and made them stand out.

Passion

If you truly want to be a sales rockstar, you must love to close. That means, obtaining higher commission checks and a sense of gratitude. You tracked the lead through the sales process and CLOSED the deal. Enterprise-level salespeople enjoy the hunt for a sale from Prospecting through Closing. There is a passion inside them that seems to be innate. It’s hard to find in many so-called “sellers” today. They are the ones who will put in extra hours that position them to close the deals in their pipeline.

Presentation

Enterprise-level sellers present themselves as experts in the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the product and/or service they are selling. In everything they speak, write, dress (appearance), and present, they are cognizant of how it fits the prospects' needs. Many companies do not offer these sales tools. So the best rockstars generally navigate their way to a place where they can get/deploy them. Great sellers know how they are perceived because they’ve done their homework. They are likable and genuine and are genuinely interested that their solution will work for their prospect(s).  

Pipeline

Rockstar salespeople understand the power of their pipeline. They consistently know the value of their pipeline, the percent opportunity to close it, and what type of commission they will receive. The math with a pipeline is always easy, and it’s always right. I know sellers who want to make $350K a year. They also know that the value of that pipeline better be over 3mil, or better. They know the averages to close and are watching those averages every day in CRM. The best salespeople I've met, know that their work in CRM is vital to their bottom line, their commission checks!

Looking back at two (of many) instances:

1. There were 58 salespeople on a sales floor I was selling on a few years back. 5-6 of us were making well into six figures. We were the ones there that didn’t go to lunch with everyone, were there after 7pm many nights, and came in on Saturdays to prepare for next week. It’s simple passion and work ethic. We were ALWAYS ready to present our value to our Sales Managers and substantiate it.

• I hired a junior sales rep for a great brand in the Digital Media business. I told him to do the work in CRM that we taught him with the tools, training and, technique we offered and that within a couple of months (usually on a Friday), he’ll get the opportunity to get a deal. Well, he did. He actually got two the same Friday and closed both. When I walked into the office on Monday around 8:30am, he was there updating his pipeline and getting ready for the week, hungry to close more.

He did eventually become a “rockstar” for us and had a pipeline of over 1.2 mil in his first year.