What Makes A Good Sales Rep? To be a good sales rep requires a number of skill sets including organization, being self-motivated, being a competitor, emotional investment and drive. One of the most important facets of a good sales person is being able to focus on what is ultimately important. Your efforts should be moving you ever closer to achieving your goals and helping the company to drive revenue.

During a recent conversation with a senior executive at a start-up company, it was brought to my attention that a sales person they are using was always busy but had no results of any tangible or measurable kind. He mentioned that the sales person was trying to develop a partner network and negotiate these deals when what was needed was feet on the street sales efforts – selling direct to drive revenue and build up an installed base.

The situation outlined above happens all too often in sales. Effort and time is spent on work that will never really pay off but seems on the surface to be important – what I call ‘busy work’. This is a true lose: lose situation. The sales person will become frustrated that they are not seeing any tangible results. The company will feel the same way as they will have nothing to show for the sales persons’ efforts and their investment in him or her.

To help correct this all sales efforts should be based on a sales plan that is comprised of a set of activities that have been pre-determined by the sales person and sales manager. This will ensure everyone is on the same page, effort is being invested wisely and success can be measured based on quantitative results.

In summary, be careful not to get caught up in busy work. Stay focused and always ask yourself, is this really going to help me meet my goals? Is this activity moving the sale closer to being closed? Don’t be afraid to be your own harshest critic!

For more helpful sales, marketing, social media and startup tips subscribe to our monthly newsletter.