The short answer is, "Both."
The best salespeople are born AND made.
I have been in sales for 40 years. I have sold door-to-door as well as complex, long sales cycle solutions.
Throughout my career as a salesperson, VP of Sales and the last 17 years as a consultant, I have had the privilege of engaging many truly amazing Sales Wolves. We call the best salespeople, those who consistently sell in the top 20th percentile, "Sales Wolves".
Despite my extensive sales hiring experience, you would perhaps think I should have perfected the ability consistently identify top salespeople by merely shaking their hand and a brief interview, right?
Wrong.
Human bias usually leads to poor sales hiring outcomes.
It much more than a handshake and brief interview to consistently identify and hire Sales Wolves.
Consistently hiring the best salespeople requires a commitment to solid hiring process, a Job Benchmark, a hiring scorecard and a valid sales personality test to ensure only the Sales Wolves get hired.
