Are you Hard, Scrambled or Soft?

Guest post by: Trent Leyshan
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Find fear before it finds you - By Trent Leyshan

The three most common sales personalities that I see regularly demonstrated are;

Hard, Scrambled, and Soft.

‘Hard' salespeople are aggressive by nature and personify the old-school selling approach - it's all about the numbers and manipulation and persuasion. Quick wins are high on the agenda and profit is the mandate not an outcome of contribution and adding value. Hard salespeople often employ bullying tactics and harness fear and scarcity to coerce would-be-customers. They prey on the indifferent and manipulate the honest and trusting.

‘Scrambled' salespeople dont operate by any formula or process and seldom follow consistent pricing. They operate at the whims of their customers and external forces -changes in weather can also determine their approach. One day a customer may pay top dollar for a product or service and the very next day a different customer could pay half price. There is no rhyme or reason to their sales strategy and consistency in the enemy.

‘Soft' salespeople are the most likeable of all. They qualify simply as nice, good, down to earth people. They do not have a hidden agenda nor do they possess the will or determination to compete or play for their reward. Selling should be easy and if it gets too hard they dont enjoy it and move on. These salespeople prefer to present rather than sell and are repulsed by the words ‘prospect' and ‘close'. Soft salespeople will usually float between the role of account manager and project manager, often returning back to sales as a means not an end.

To be effective in sales you need to be not only structured by conscious of when you are demonstrating any of the 3 natural states.

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Find fear before it finds you - By Trent Leyshan

About the Author: Trent Leyshan

RSS for Trent's articles - Visit Trent's website

Trent Leyshan is founder, CEO of BOOM!

A leading international sales training company that specialises in the development of inspirational sales cultures, leaders and salespeople.

Early in his career Trent was head tradeshow spruiker and sales manager for Australia's most flamboyant TV salesman, Big Kev.

He has since driven two of his own companies from lounge room operations into market leaders. And led sales teams in leading new media and advertising agencies.

Trent is a sought after expert and facilitator on sales performance and strategy. He is the Author of sales book, The Naked Salesman: How to walk the talk and sell your way to success!

BOOM! develops sales training strategies and delivers inspiring learning experiences for some of the world's most successful and demanding sales driven organisations. Empowering them with modern skills and tools to effectively engage with customers and build stronger and more valuable relationships.

Click here to visit Trent's website.

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