Do Your Sales Executives Have The "IT" Factor?
Posted by
Chris Lang on Mon, Jul 26, 2023 @ 03:49 PM
My nephew Mike has “IT”. Even at the age of 3 you can already tell. Mike is a little rough around the edges and he’s a small, scrappy guy for his age. That being said, he will work hard for something he wants and nothing short of an act of God will stop him until he gets it. Last week, my sister had made brownies for everyone to have for desert. Mike had a couple and like any 3 year old he went back for seconds and thirds only to be told “no” by my sister as he had already had several. After some mild complaining he gave up, or so we thought. My sister woke up at about 3am to some rustling downstairs. She walked down quietly to see what it was. She flipped the light on in the kitchen to see that Mike had dragged a dining room chair in the kitchen and stacked about 10 books on top of it so that he could climb the books and reach the brownies which were in a pantry about 6 feet up. The brownie supply had been decimated by a 27 lbs ball of determination. The chair was heavy and the books were huge, it must have taken him a while. He looked at my sister and said, “Mom, I love brownies, but I love you more.” Mike didn’t get in trouble. He has “IT”.
I’ve been reading a lot of discussions on LinkedIn about what makes a great sales person. I see most of the same words time and time again to describe good sales executives, “Hard working, money motivated, honest, direct, and personable”, to name a few. While all of these are undeniable characteristics of a good sales person, I feel that the biggest factor is often left out, the “IT” factor. “IT” is what the best sales reps have in them and “IT” is hard to find. “IT” is the difference between a rep that makes quota and a rep that crushes the number quarter after quarter.
In my opinion, “IT” is the unique blend of talent and determination that drives the most successful sales executives. People that have the “IT” factor don’t want to be in the top tier of sales executives. They have to be number one. People that have “IT” don’t settle when they reach the top spot. They recreate expectations by beating their own numbers time and time again. People with “IT” do not stop until they have done everything they can do to be as good as they could possibly be. They use 100% of the tools and talents they have and when they run out of every option, they think of one more and try that. There is no half effort from a sales executive with “IT”. There are two modes, off and 100% full steam ahead.
I think everyone should look for the “IT” factor in their sales reps. They’re the ones with all the brownies.