In many fields people are arguing if talent or training is more valuable. My teacher of Marketing and Sales Management recently asked me this question related to a salesperson.
To answer this question I will first note some examples of skills, qualities and characteristics that a sales person needs:
- Confidence ( A customer wants to get advices and information from a confident and secure person )
- Knowledge about the product ( Full knowledge about the product is essential to answer the questions of the customers )
- Charisma ( Charisma attracts people and gives a recognition value, which is very valuable )
- Empathy ( A good salesperson has to desires of the customer. This can be accomplished with empathy )
- Outgoing ( A salesperson makes profit with contact to humans and should therefore be able to communicate well and start conversations )
- Flexibility ( Every customers is individual and has therefore different needs and wants. Flexibility is important to respond to this differences )
Some people have the luck that they are born with these characteristics, but it is possible to train all of them as I learned through life and in the Professional and Academic Skills class of Mrs. Van-Woudenberg at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The difference is that knowledge about the product might be easier to train for example than charisma. I do believe that a person that is born with a lot of these characteristics has it easier than another one with less talent. But every person in the world can achieve everything with one characteristic:
WILLINGNESS
The willingness and ambition to become a salesperson is in my opinion the most important factor. A person that is very talented but not ambitious for its job is not useful. I would like to describe this theory with some football players as an example.
THE FAILING SUPER-TALENT
Adriano was one of the most talented football players approximately 10 years ago. Many experts predicted him an outstanding career. He came very far and played in some top clubs and the national team, but eventually flopped because he missed the willingness to become better every day and focused on other things.
Source: http://www.football-wallpapers.com/adriano-wallpaper-7/
THE MAN WITH THE LIMITLESS WILL
David Beckham is famous as one of the best football players in the last 20 years. His free kicks and right foot were incredible. Many experts though said that he actually was not that talented, but achieve his skills though training and an insane willingness to become better and better. This shows that you can come very very far without a lot of talent. I think that it is the same case as a sales person, because of the fact that all characteristics can be trained.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/may/16/david-beckham-retires-stats-numbers
I additionally do believe though that people with the talent of being a salesperson also tend more to have the willingness to become one, as humans naturally like to do the thinks in which he is good and seeks appreciation.
Therefore the very best salesperson has to combine talent and the willingness to train hard. We all know the outcome in football of that combination:
Source: http://fansided.com/2014/07/11/world-cup-golden-ball-finalists-include-lionel-messi-thomas-muller/
Some further sources that underline my theory:
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2014/11/20/your-willingness-to-succeed/
http://www.warriormindcoach.com/blog/2010/11/09/willingness-to-change-for-personal-success/
