Consider what makes a top salesperson more successful than their colleagues.
If I asked you to list the following three attributes in order of importance, which do you think would have the greatest influence on a Seller’s success:

• Their skills?
• What they know?
• Their attitude?

My answer is at the end of this article (inside) and I’m pretty certain that you will come up with the same conclusion.

What may be more of a surprise is when we look at the selection criteria used for appointing Buyers or, alternatively, consider the focus of most Buyer training. You'll probably agree with me that the priority in these cases is as follows:

• What they know
• Their skills
• Their attitude

It seems that in Sellers we value such attributes as determination, drive, mental resilience and a generally positive approach to making things happen.

However, what managers seem to value in Buyers are a knowledge of INCOTERMS, understanding of bid processes, experience of MRP systems and an ability to use spreadsheets!

Something of a disconnect there perhaps? Are Sellers and Buyers really so different? In reality, of course, they are not at all different but while the mental picture of the sales process is that it is people-oriented, the mental image of many managers is that Procurement is a world of facts, logic, data and procedures.

My rank order for Sellers is

1. Their attitude
2. Their skills
3. What they know

Paul Rogers is a Senior Consultant with PMMS Asia Pacific based in Melbourne.