Sales, Do You Have What it Takes

As a sales coach I’d like to believe that anyone can be taught to sell and sell well.
Many people would disagree with me on this point.

I mean we have all seen salespeople that are just good from the day they started selling but is that a factor of their genetics or of the skills they have picked up in the process of growing up?
Maybe they were on the debating team at school?
Maybe they grew up in a big family where there were many visitors to the house and they learned how to relate to all sorts of people?
Maybe their parents owned a shop and they worked behind the counter when they were very young?

And logic would suggest if they could learn that skill then that they could learn it now.

Yes, people can be taught to sell but does it take more to be a top performer ?

“Plainly, not all salespeople are successful.
Given the same sales tools, level of education, and propensity to work, why do some salespeople succeed where others fail?

Is one better suited to sell the product because of his or her background?
Is one more charming or just luckier?
The evidence suggests that the personalities of these Heavy Hitters (truly great salespeople) play a critical role in determining their success.”

There is some evidence to suggest, as the quote above does, that certain personality traits are necessary to be a high performing sales person.
My question is whether these traits are innate or whether some of then can be acquired by sales coaching ?

And it may not even be easy to track down these traits by yourself either, ...
“If you ask an extremely successful salesperson,
“What makes you different from the average sales rep?”
you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all.

Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because many successful salespeople are simply doing "what comes naturally.”

Take a read of this article ...
Personality Study of 1,000 Top Salespeople from Harvard Business Review