The first is perhaps the most obvious: Mercedes, slicked back hair, always on the phone. They work by having a kind of primal desire to win: they never stop, they keep calling, they play hard, they give 100%. It's distasteful, but if I had to get 100M in sales, these are the people I'd try to attract. I've heard them called "lions". You need these if you're trying to win big contracts against competitors, because they can go from no foot in the door to a contract by sheer persistence.
The second is I think (hope?) more common in tech. Smart, fairly technically inclined, and long-term thinkers. They don't come off as slimy, but they do somehow remember your name. These people keep clients by learning requirements, keeping track of them, keeping relationships warm, and keeping the tech/product people loosely coupled with the customers. You need these if you're a tools company, because you live by long-term customers.
The third is more subtle, and I've only met one. This is the technically minded, completely non-conniving leader. By apparently completely honest, clear technical dialog with customers they build trust and confidence, which are the root of sales. It just happens that it's genuine. This works really well, but you sure can't fake it.
Ah man I wish I'd seen this when you wrote it. I think this is great break down of the personalities of sales people. There are different types, and they have different skills sets as you so eloquently pointed out. I think, if I may interpret a little, what your saying is you need all three, or at least a mixed bag. You can't use the 3rd to steal contracts away from big customers because building trust takes a long time. If it is time sensitive the lion is important. But, remember everybody's got lions. They aren't unique. If you want to keep that business you need one of the other two because customers won't jump ship because they trust the other type of sales person.
The first is perhaps the most obvious: Mercedes, slicked back hair, always on the phone. They work by having a kind of primal desire to win: they never stop, they keep calling, they play hard, they give 100%. It's distasteful, but if I had to get 100M in sales, these are the people I'd try to attract. I've heard them called "lions". You need these if you're trying to win big contracts against competitors, because they can go from no foot in the door to a contract by sheer persistence.
The second is I think (hope?) more common in tech. Smart, fairly technically inclined, and long-term thinkers. They don't come off as slimy, but they do somehow remember your name. These people keep clients by learning requirements, keeping track of them, keeping relationships warm, and keeping the tech/product people loosely coupled with the customers. You need these if you're a tools company, because you live by long-term customers.
The third is more subtle, and I've only met one. This is the technically minded, completely non-conniving leader. By apparently completely honest, clear technical dialog with customers they build trust and confidence, which are the root of sales. It just happens that it's genuine. This works really well, but you sure can't fake it.