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Qualifications of a salesperson

21 February 2009 No Comment

This week I am reading one very old book about Selling and Efficiency in Business and I am positively surprised that almost 100 years ago people were holding strong beliefs about the fundamental qualities of a salesperson.

How can we learn today from this old ideas and beliefs? Please read the quote from the book.

The fundamental qualities of a salesperson are as follows:

  • health
  • honesty
  • knowledge of the business
  • open-mindedness
  • tact
  • courtesy
  • loyalty
  • initiative
  • courage
  • enthusiasm
  • ambition
  • purpose
  • a willingness to work and work hard ,and
  • good judgment.

I especially like the part about open-mindedness:

No quality in business is more necessary than open-mindedness — a mind that is open to new ideas. An individual who thinks he knows it ALL or knows ENOUGH, is a liability rather than an asset. Such a person cannot be tolerated in any business. The same thing can be said of a person who will not study.

Doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers, and successful businesspeople do a certain amount of studying every week, no matter what else they have to do. The man who does not realize the necessity of doing this shows by that quality that advancement for him is impossible.

Personally, I consider a week wasted if I didn’t read at least one new book or special report. My goal for this year is to finish 52 sales books in 52 weeks.

Any suggestions?

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