Are Top Salespeople Born or Made?

My blog title is from an HBR blog
on critical sales skills, written by Steve W. Martin. Martin argues
that over 70% of top salespeople are born with “natural instincts” that
play a critical role in determining their sales success. His conclusion,
he writes, is drawn from his “research.” So, Martin believes, top
salespeople are born, not made. Duhhhh! We got rid of that same notion
regarding top leaders about ten years ago. Now we have to go through the
same song and dance about top salespeople. Aaaargh!

Question
But are sales skills actually a matter of natural instinct?

Take, for example, what Martin regards as the first and most
differentiating factor of sales success–language specialization. Very
few, he writes, are language mavens who can conduct intelligent conversations about the details of daily business operations. . . . Successful
self-made salespeople possess domain-area expertise and speak the
corresponding business operations language, or have deep knowledge of
the industry’s technical language. These languages are the yardstick by
which customers measure a salesperson’s true value and greatly influence
their purchase decisions. Lesser-performing self-made salespeople are
not as fluent in these languages, so they tend to focus on likability
and friendliness with prospective customers.

This reminds me of my favorite movie line by Jason Bateman in the
opening scene of “The Switch” in which he talks about his inability to
relate: For most of us it’s about not being able to say what you need to say when you need to say it. Martin
would say that Bateman’s problem is biology. Less than 30% of the top
conversationalists are self-made. They are born with natural
conversational instincts. So it’s our inheritance–the luck of the draw.

That’s utter nonsense. Martin hasn’t done the right
research. It’s one thing to say that top salespeople grew up in families
where good fiction that develops one’s experience was read, and
critical thinking and interactional conversation were modeled and
emphasized—and most don’t have that luxurious background. It’s another
to say that some have natural instincts that play a critical role in
determining sales success. I wrote asking for his research. Thus far, a
month later, no response.

True. There is such a thing as language instinct, but only at the
most basic level. Unless there’s a physical impediment such as Down or
Joubert Syndromes, where a portion of the brain is underdeveloped,
evolution starts us all out with basic language grammar. If you pay
attention to toddlers you can recognize the grammar. Our eldest, when a
toddler, understood it was “raining” or “snowing,” or the “sun was
shining.” So of course when the wind was blowing, it was also “winding.”
That’s toddler grammar—and it is instinctual says Steven Pinker.

Where we go from there is highly dependent upon environment,
opportunity, learning and motivation. If you’re familiar with the
conclusions regarding deliberate practice, you know that expertise in
any domain requires a great deal of modeling, feedback, coaching and
practice. That’s true whether the issue is chess, golf, math–or
language. Buy shoes at Nordstrom’s and buy tennies at the local
discount shoe store and ask both salespeople about their shoes. It
doesn’t take much to recognize the language distinctions of trained
middle-class people versus those of poorly trained people trying to work
their way out of poverty. That’s the result of environment and
education. Yeah, I know. The students of deliberate practice don’t want
to rule out some special giftedness for world-class performers in golf,
violin or chess. But let me assure you, you don’t need to be a
world-class performer to become a top salesperson.

But at one point, I’m in full agreement with Martin. Top salespeople
sure as hell need more specialized language skills than they’re liable
to get in 95% of families or even in the better schools. They need to
learn the art of conversation.

Why are the skills of interactional conversation so lacking in business culture?
Or, for that matter, in the American culture? The answer is hidden in
plain sight. The interactional skills of top salespeople are built upon a
number of obvious issues: domain, operational and strategic knowledge.
But interactional skills are also built upon dialog competencies.
Specifically, critical thinking, listening, advocating, inquiring and
turn-taking.

The better schools teach critical thinking, advocating and active
listening. But questioning and turn-taking are a completely different
animal. Business people, and especially the male of the species, are
taught to advocate, not inquire and interact. Leaders who ask questions
are thought to be weak and looked down upon. Amazing to me how that “W”
is thought to be a leader because he advocated, but “Obama” is not,
because he questions. And does it publicly. More nonsense from the
idiocracy.

We’ve got a pot full of research explaining why in our culture and
especially in the professional and business cultures we don’t inquire.
(Lawyers question—but only with leading questions. Those aren’t the
interactional and collaborative questions of development, innovation and
strategic sales.)

In one of a number of studies, Fiona Lee asks, When the going gets tough, do the tough ask for help? She finds that individuals do not seek help—translated,
they do not ask questions. Why? Help seeking implies incompetence and
dependence and is therefore related to powerlessness. At bottom,
questioning implies vulnerability and fear to most people. Letterman
asks questions, but only so he can make fun on his show. They aren’t the
questions of dialog.

So, is language specialization instinctual for the few? Not at all.
What holds us back is the fear of vulnerability and ignorance of the
questioning process. Can that mental model be changed and people gain
the necessary competence of dialog: the art of talking, thinking,
turn-taking and questioning together? Of course. But it won’t happen
overnite. As my friend, Alexandra Levit, puts it in her brilliant new
book, Blind Spots, the widely held belief of overnite success is pure myth.

Once more. Is the language specialization necessary for top
salespeople a matter of instinct? Of course not. Those who think so
haven’t done their research.

Fiona Lee, “When the Going Gets Tough, Do the Tough Ask for Help? Help Seeking and Power Motivation in Organizations.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol 72, No. 3, pp. 336-363, 1997.

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