What Makes a Successful Salesperson?

Let’s start by evaluating what makes a successful salesperson. We recently asked the participants of a workshop to identify and share the habits they believed contributed to the success of their best salespeople. Below are some of the common habits identified:

• Develops great relationships
• Networks regularly
• Practices good time management
• Gets to decision makers
• Is selective in prospecting
• Provides exceptional customer service

Then we asked them to talk about the flip side of the list—those habits that inhibited or hurt a salesperson’s ability to close more business. Below are some of the habits they identified:

• Sells on price
• Inconsistent prospecting
• Procrastinates
• Presents to the wrong people
• Does not fully qualify prospects
• Poor prioritization
• Is too comfortable

These desired sales behaviors provide insights into which habits are most important for sales leadership in developing and motivating salespeople.

The Role of Sales Management Habits in Leadership

We partner with and utilize the most recognized sales evaluation in the industry by Objective Management Group. To avoid guessing about what contributes to effective sales management habits, here are the core competencies taken from their sales management evaluation below. Take a moment to review the list and reflect on how effective you are in these areas.

This comprehensive list of competencies has layers of effective sales management habits beneath it. Let’s focus solely on the skills of a great coach—one of the most critical roles of an effective sales leader—as managers should be spending at least 50% of their time coaching.

Coaching Habits That Drive Sales Growth

Here is a list of skills and habits necessary for successful sales coaching:

•  Consistently coaches
• Has a passion for coaching
• Debriefs sales calls effectively
• Stays in the moment
• Asks enough quality questions
• Does not need approval from salespeople
• Handles joint calls effectively
• Does not rescue salespeople
• Implements and coaches the execution of a consistent sales process
• Is effective at getting commitments
• Coaches to improve skill and change behavior
• Knows how and why people buy

It’s not enough to just have the skill. For managers to be successful at building a sales team for growth, they must be in the habit of using those skills. One of the most important sales management habits is scheduling coaching time on the calendar with a focus on improving skills, not just coaching a deal at hand.

Building Extraordinary Sales Managers

Being an extraordinary sales manager is challenging and time-consuming. It requires attention to detail, the ability to have tough conversations with those who are not meeting their numbers, the desire and commitment to grow yourself and your salespeople, consistent activity, and patience.

The rewards: like the coach of a winning team or conductor of an extraordinary symphony, you have the ability to positively affect the success and lives of your salespeople and company by cultivating effective sales management habits.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sales Management Habits

1. What are sales management habits?
Sales management habits are the consistent behaviors, routines, and practices that sales leaders use to coach, manage, and develop their teams. These habits shape performance, accountability, and long-term sales growth.

2. Why are sales management habits important?
Strong sales management habits create structure, improve coaching effectiveness, and ensure that sales teams are consistently meeting and exceeding goals. Without these habits, performance often becomes inconsistent and results unpredictable.

3. What are examples of effective sales management habits?
Examples include regularly coaching salespeople, setting clear expectations, holding team members accountable, tracking performance metrics, and investing time in skill development.

4. How can I improve my sales management habits?
Start by scheduling consistent coaching sessions, reviewing sales activities instead of only results, and developing systems that support recruiting, performance management, and accountability.

5. How much time should managers spend coaching as part of sales management habits?
Industry best practices suggest that managers should spend at least 50% of their time coaching. This habit ensures skill development, behavior change, and stronger sales outcomes.

The obvious way to measure sales performance is by results. If a salesperson is hitting or exceeding goal, that looks good on the surface. But what about the majority of your team who are not? Numbers alone tell you what is happening, but not why. That’s where a sales skills assessment comes in.

Key Data Points in a Sales Skills Assessment

To get a true picture of performance, you need to go beyond outcomes and evaluate behaviors, skills, and effort. Consider these areas:

• Critical ratios

  • Effort: Are they making dials, networking, and using LinkedIn effectively?

  • Effectiveness: What do ratios tell you? For example, if only 10% of conversations result in an appointment, is that good enough?

• Observation

  • Joint calls: Are they following the company sales process?

  • Execution of sales fundamentals: Are they asking enough of the right questions, weaving in stories and analogies, listening actively, and digging deeper to understand client problems?

• Role-playing

  • Do they understand and demonstrate your sales process?

  • Can they articulate what consultative, client-focused selling really means?

  • Do they show the same skills in a practice setting that you expect in the field?

• Pipeline and activity data

  • Is the pipeline growing in volume and reliability?

  • How does their performance rank compared to peers?

  • Are they putting in enough effort to create opportunities for success?

The Honest Question: Would You Buy from This Salesperson?

An effective way to evaluate skills is to role-play or observe live selling situations and then ask yourself one honest question: Would I buy from this salesperson?

Your answer will likely fall into one of four categories:

1. I would not buy from this person. In fact, I’d love to compete against them.

2. I would not buy from them right now based on what I just saw or heard.

3. I’m undecided. I need more information or more time to make up my mind.

4. I would buy from this person. They engaged me, uncovered problems I need to address, and made me think about changing vendors or spending money I hadn’t planned to.

One client recently held a sales meeting with an hour of role-play around a single sales step. At the end, a product specialist remarked, “With the exception of two people, I don’t believe I would buy from anyone else I saw in that one hour.” That is the kind of courageous, honest feedback that defines a true sales skills assessment.

What Sales Leaders Must Bring to the Table

Performance management is not just about observing your team. It also requires the right mindset and habits as a leader:

• Supportive coaching beliefs – If you think people will only perform well if they like you, you’re in trouble.

• Resilience to rejection – You must be willing to tell someone the hard truth, even if it stings.

• Understanding of desire and commitment – If a salesperson isn’t fully committed, you’ll find yourself addressing the same problems repeatedly.

• Data analysis skills – Without digging into the right data, coaching is guesswork.

• Time allocation – If you’re not doing ride-alongs or role-plays, you’re missing two non-negotiable assessment opportunities.

The Bottom Line

Effective sales leaders know that an honest sales skills assessment must be done regularly. Ask yourself: Would I buy from this salesperson? The answer will drive deeper, more actionable coaching conversations. While it may be uncomfortable, and you may even lose someone along the way, it often inspires salespeople to sharpen their skills and elevate their performance.

FAQ: Sales Skills Assessment

What is a sales skills assessment?
It is a structured evaluation of a salesperson’s behaviors, effort, and skills beyond just sales results. It helps identify why someone is or isn’t performing.

Why is a sales skills assessment important?
Because results alone don’t show the root cause. Assessments uncover gaps in effort, execution, and understanding that you can address through coaching.

How often should sales leaders conduct a sales skills assessment?
Regularly. Role-plays, ride-alongs, and data reviews should be ongoing, not just once or twice a year.

What are common areas to measure in a sales skills assessment?
Critical activity ratios, joint call performance, role-play ability, pipeline strength, and sales activity levels.

How can a sales skills assessment improve results?
By identifying specific skill gaps, leaders can coach more effectively, leading to stronger pipelines, higher conversion ratios, and better long-term performance.

Why Sales Accountability Matters

Most companies want accountability but focus on the wrong metrics. They track closed sales as the main measurement. The problem is that closed sales are lagging indicators. Looking only at closes is like driving while staring in the rearview mirror. You see what has already happened, but you miss the predictive activity that drives future success.

Instead, we need to measure forward-looking metrics such as:

• Prospecting dials made

• Appointments set

• Appointments kept

• Second meetings scheduled

Tracking these activities gives sales leaders critical ratios, such as dials to first appointments or dials to closed sales. With this data, you can set intelligent goals and begin to coach true sales accountability.

Coaching at Every Step of the Process

Effective managers track and inspect each step of the sales process, from initial calls to proposals and closes. When you hold salespeople accountable for activity, you gain the ability to predict outcomes with much greater accuracy.

For example, if Jane typically averages 15 calls for every closed deal, but she is only making 10 calls, it is no surprise she is missing her goals. Without accountability to her ratios, she cannot improve.

The Role of Consequences in Accountability

Tracking numbers only works if the data is used to hold people accountable to promised goals. This requires tough conversations. Ask each salesperson:

“What will happen if you do not reach this goal? What are the consequences if you don’t achieve Extraordinary?”

This shifts responsibility back to the salesperson. If Bill shrugs and says, “Maybe next month,” you may not have the right person in the role. If he is serious, he will connect his missed goals to personal consequences such as financial strain or delayed family plans.

Eliminating Excuses in Sales

Excuses are one of the biggest barriers to accountability. In Objective Management Group’s assessments, about 66% of salespeople admit to making excuses for poor performance. They blame the company, the competition, or the market instead of taking ownership. Left unchecked, this mindset lowers standards across the organization.

Consider this example: Jane misses her call goal because she was busy handling operational issues. She blames the company. Your response should be, “Jane, if I did not let you use that as an excuse, what would you have done differently?”

This question forces her to think through the problem and identify what must change. It removes the option of excuse-making and reinforces accountability.

Building a No-Excuses Culture

Sales accountability is a full-time job. Excuses will always surface in new forms, so train yourself to recognize them and respond consistently. Practice using the critical accountability question:

“If I did not let you use that excuse, what would you have done differently?”

Use it often and you will notice how quickly it changes the tone of conversations. Over time, it helps create a culture where salespeople own their results, and managers can coach to meaningful behaviors instead of debating excuses.

FAQ: Sales Accountability

What is sales accountability?
Sales accountability is the practice of tracking and inspecting key sales activities, then holding salespeople responsible for meeting their promised goals and activity levels.

Why is sales accountability important?
It creates predictability in sales results, eliminates excuse-making, and ensures salespeople focus on the right activities that drive revenue.

What metrics should managers track for sales accountability?
Instead of only tracking closed deals, managers should monitor calls made, appointments set and kept, second meetings, proposals, and conversion ratios.

How can managers address excuses from salespeople?
By using the accountability question: “If I did not let you use that as an excuse, what would you have done differently?” This shifts responsibility back to the salesperson.

How does sales accountability improve sales performance?
When salespeople know they will be held to activity standards and ratios, they adjust behaviors proactively. This increases consistency, accuracy in forecasting, and overall sales growth.

Why Sales Habits Matter

As an educator by degree, I learned early on that behaviors and habits are shaped by rewards and consequences. Developing effective sales habits follows the same pattern.

• Good habits contribute to the achievement of your goals and objectives.

• Bad habits take you further away from those goals.

• Consistency depends on your level of commitment. If you are serious about long-term success, good sales habits stick.

• Lack of consistency often signals a lack of true commitment.

• Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

Often the habits that matter most do not feel urgent. Exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep, prospecting, or blogging may not demand your immediate attention. But they quickly become urgent when a crisis hits, such as a health scare or being placed on a performance improvement plan.

Your sales habits are a direct reflection of your commitments.

5 Steps to Better Sales Habits

If you want to improve your results, here are five steps to building better sales habits:

1. Identify goals and objectives that are non-negotiable.

2. Create a detailed plan to achieve those goals.

3. Use a system to track your progress and the activities that lead to success.

4. Inspect what you expect. Regularly evaluate whether you are on track.

5. Find an accountability partner who cares enough to hold you responsible.

Developing strong sales habits takes discipline, but the rewards are worth it. When you focus on building consistency, your actions align with your goals and long-term success follows.

Frequently Asked Questions about Sales Habits

1. What are sales habits?
Sales habits are the consistent actions and behaviors that help salespeople reach their goals. Examples include prospecting daily, following up with leads, and tracking pipeline activity.

2. Why are sales habits important for success?
Strong sales habits create discipline and consistency. They keep salespeople focused on the activities that drive results, even when motivation fades.

3. How long does it take to build new sales habits?
It often takes several weeks of consistent effort to form a new habit. The key is commitment and accountability to stay on track until the behavior becomes routine.

4. What are examples of bad sales habits?
Bad sales habits include inconsistent follow-up, failing to track activity, avoiding prospecting, and letting distractions replace high-value selling tasks.

5. How can I stay consistent with good sales habits?
Use a clear plan, track progress daily, and partner with an accountability coach or manager. Commitment to long-term goals helps make sales habits stick.

Why Motivation Starts from the Inside Out

When the topic of motivation comes up, most leaders think about incentive compensation, sales contests, or recognition programs. These certainly have their place - they encourage salespeople to focus on results and reward effort. However, they don’t always produce long-term engagement.

True motivation is an “inside-out” job. It comes when salespeople connect their daily activity to deeply personal goals and desires. Leaders who recognize this can build a sales culture that fuels commitment and enthusiasm beyond standard rewards.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Sales Motivation

Maslow’s well-known Hierarchy of Needs still applies today. Salespeople at the base level need income to cover food, housing, safety, and other essentials. Only once those needs are met can they focus on higher levels of belonging, recognition, and self-actualization.

For example, most salespeople don’t inherently care about shareholder value unless they hold stock. What they do care about are personal goals: providing for their family, saving for retirement, paying for college, or affording experiences they’ve dreamed about.

As a leader, your role is to help them connect those personal goals to their sales activity. This is the foundation of building a high-performance sales team.

Creating a Culture of Goal Setting and Recognition

One of the most effective ways to motivate your team is by making time to help them uncover and define their personal goals. This requires stepping away from the daily grind and focusing on the big picture.

How to Facilitate Goal Setting

1. Schedule dedicated time - Plan an off-site session or a day away from the office for personal and professional goal setting.
2. Coach like a team leader - Position yourself as the coach, and your salespeople as the athletes. Everyone plays a role in driving the team to success.
3. Encourage detailed goals - Have salespeople outline their dreams, attach timeframes, and connect financial values to each goal.

When financial values are attached, you’ll be able to determine the exact level of prospecting and sales activity needed to make the goals achievable.

Recognition Matters

Salespeople are competitive and typically crave recognition. Create a “posting wall” for your team - a visual system that showcases wins. This could be as simple as a leaderboard, a graph of progress, or a recognition wall in the office. Public recognition inspires ongoing effort and builds healthy competition.

Coaching Through Setbacks

Even with clear goals and motivation, salespeople will sometimes fall short. A high-performance sales team isn’t built on perfection, but on how salespeople and leaders handle setbacks.

When someone misses their goal, don’t just acknowledge the failure - coach them back to success. For example, if Jane missed her monthly prospecting activity, ask questions like:

- “How important is it for you to succeed?”

- “What can you do differently to get back on track?”

- “What support or process could help you improve?”

If Jane shows commitment to action, implement structured coaching. Sit with her during prospecting calls, provide feedback, and hold her accountable. This hands-on discipline not only corrects short-term problems but also reinforces long-term success habits.

Turning Personal Goals into a Business Workplan

To sustain motivation, salespeople need more than dreams - they need a practical plan to make those dreams real. That’s where a structured business workplan comes in.

Step 1: Categorize Personal Goals

Have your salespeople write down 100 goals, big and small, and instruct them to not filter those at first.  Break goals into three timeframes:

- Short-term goals (within 12 months)

- Medium-term goals (1–5 years)

- Long-term goals (5+ years)

Then, rank them by urgency: urgent, somewhat urgent, or not urgent. This exercise helps salespeople prioritize and focus.

Encourage them to think not only about material goals (paying off debt, buying a house) but also “freedom to choose” goals, such as working four days a week or taking a month off for volunteer work. These require financial planning, but they are powerful motivators.

Step 2: Define Non-Negotiable Goals

From all the goals identified, choose the 12 non-negotiable goals for the next year. These are the must-haves - no excuses, no exceptions. Connect each goal to the behaviors and deadlines required to make it happen. A goal without a due date is just a wish.

Step 3: Translate Goals into a Workplan

Now it’s time to turn personal goals into business activity. This involves four components:

1. Your Success Formula - Define the math behind the sales process. How many calls, meetings, and proposals are required to hit the revenue number that supports your personal goals?
2. Your Market Niche - Identify the top 20% of your clients that generate the most revenue. Who are they, and how can you find more like them? Focus your energy where it produces the greatest return.
3. Your Prospecting Strategy - Build multiple approaches to generate new opportunities. Introductions from existing clients should be a primary method, but complement it with networking, digital outreach, and targeted campaigns.
4. Your Unique Sales Approach (USA) - Craft an elevator pitch that makes prospects respond with “Tell me more,” “That’s me,” or “How do you do that?”

Finally, identify activities to stop doing. Often, eliminating low-value tasks frees up energy for high-value activity.

Sustaining Momentum for Long-Term Success

Building a high-performance sales team is not a one-time event - it’s an ongoing process. Here are three ways to sustain momentum:

1. Review progress regularly - Schedule quarterly check-ins where each salesperson revisits their personal and professional goals.
2. Celebrate wins - Recognition, rewards, and public acknowledgment of achievements keep motivation alive.
3. Refine the workplan - Adjust strategies based on what’s working, what’s not, and where the market is changing.

At the end of the day, sales managers can’t impose motivation - it must come from within each salesperson. What leaders can do is create the right environment, provide accountability, and help their team connect personal goals to professional performance.

By focusing on individual motivation, structured goal setting, and disciplined coaching, you’ll be well on your way to building a high-performance sales team that consistently delivers results.