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Guest post by: Joe Ippolito Become an Author

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Ask most salespeople to name an important characteristic that leads to sales success and you’ll hear them proudly announce “being aggressive.” After all, you’ll also see this in job descriptions and the help-wanted ads. It’s what managers think they need. But as a sales leader, is that what you and your organization really want? If you were to poll your clients, would they tell you that they enjoy a sales call with an aggressive salesperson?

Probably not. The characteristic you should want your sales team to possess is assertiveness. Assertiveness is having the ability to pull, not push, your prospect through the sales process, and the confidence to control that process. Assertive salespeople know how to ask the thought provoking questions that uncover issues, and differentiate you and your products from the competition. This sets the tone that enables your prospect to open up, be honest, and discuss their true needs and criteria for doing business.

On the other hand, aggressive salespeople, determined to force a prospect into a decision, are often placed into chase mode by the prospect and don’t even realize it. They waste time by constantly following up, or sending more information. The salesperson tells you the call “went well” when, in reality, they find themselves stuck in a cycle of broken appointments, voice-mail, unreturned phone calls and deals that get canceled. Many times they wear themselves out, become frustrated and feel like a pest. Without a strategy or any idea of what happened and why, the salesperson resorts to the only thing they know, being aggressive. And the vicious cycle never stops.

Assertiveness is about your team’s ability to ask tough budget questions and find out about the decision-making process before wasting time developing and delivering proposals to non-decision-makers. Assertiveness is having the ability to pull the prospect to a “no” if the sale is not going to happen, and instead focus their energies on more promising prospects.

When your sales team is trained to assert themselves in a positive and productive manner, they will be viewed as trusted advisers, not just another aggressive salesperson. After all, it’s not so much what you sell, but how you sell it that makes the sale. Be assertive, not aggressive.

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