9 Superstar Traits Every Salesperson Needs to Beat Fear and Rise Up

By Joe Paranteau

It’s common to feel fear as a salesperson, but this is something you 100% need to overcome in order to be successful. If you’re not careful, fear can control your life and squander your potential. Sales isn’t a career for the timid, and many mediocre sellers end up full of regret due to chances not taken and dreams not chased. If you don’t learn how to overcome your fears and rise up, you risk leading a life with regrets.

Overcoming your fears is the first step on your journey to becoming a person of action. You’re the main character in your story, and it’s important to start acting like it. Mediocre salespeople know what to do, but make excuses for not following through. To be a superstar seller, you have to take action when others give up.

Here are the nine essential qualities that you need to take control of your career and your future. Develop these traits every salesperson needs, and you’ll be ready to rise up every day.

9 essential traits every salesperson needs to conquer fear

1. Positive attitude

Your attitude determines your altitude. A Native American proverb calls us to make the most of every day because “when the sun sets, it takes a part of your life with it.”

You must make the most of each day, and that starts with a positive attitude. Are you going to be someone who lifts the spirits of yourself and others? Or are you going to get your coffee and then grumble through the day complaining? The choice is entirely yours, but remember that every breath exhaled is gone forever. Attitude is the octane in your tank to get you going and is entirely under your control.

My dad used to tell me he hated the word “can’t.” When I struggled with my Spanish classes, he would say, “Tell yourself Spanish is hard, but if you apply yourself, seek out help from teachers and practice, and you will be able to learn it.” It was a handy trick for improving my attitude.

Here are a few ideas on how to build a better attitude:

• Surround yourself with people you want to emulate.
• Feed yourself positivity. What you read and listen to should uplift and inspire you, not bring you down.
• Watch your self-talk. Are you telling yourself you can’t do something? Be careful what you tell yourself. You might believe it.
• Commit to having a positive day from the start. Wake up with gratitude and determination, and carry those mindsets throughout your day.

2. Empathy

Believe it or not, empathy is an important part of your job and one of the key traits every salesperson needs. You need to develop a client-centric approach in everything you do. If you are creating a sales proposal, think about reading it from the receiver’s standpoint.

One of my first sales managers shared with me that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. People buy from people who care about them. Think about companies and sales professionals whom you buy from repeatedly. It’s probably not only because of their prices or products, but because they care to make the buying experience more about you than themselves.

Early in my sales career, I presented a proposal for a sales automation solution, and my customer had a heart attack. People often say jokingly that their customers react that way to great deals, but this customer had a real medical emergency, right in the middle of my sales pitch. Of course, we started CPR and got him prompt medical attention. Since he had traveled out of his country for this meeting, we also visited him in the hospital and brought him flowers to make him feel comfortable. This was a unique situation, but showing genuine empathy for your customers is an important part of making them feel comfortable with you.

Empathy is something to practice every day. People are fighting their own battles, and a little compassion goes a long way. Just remember every sales interaction involves a living, breathing human being with feelings, dreams, and aspirations. You can express empathy in an email—it doesn’t have to be a big deal. The only requirement is the willingness to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Being empathetic means suspending judgment and meeting people where they are.

The Cheyenne people admonished each other not to judge others until you’ve walked two moons in their moccasins. When you learn to live your life with more empathy, rising up to the challenges and what you face will become more meaningful.

3. Resiliency

Life is full of setbacks; if you’re going to rise to the challenges of sales, you need to be able to bounce back quickly.

When sales don’t go well, the best approach is to seek feedback, correct what you can, and try again. One of my managers used to say, “Let’s not get more than 20 steps outside the main entrance before we share feedback of what worked and what didn’t.” I call this the "20 Steps Rule," and I still follow it today.

Consistently looking for what worked and what didn’t will make you more comfortable with small failures and will help create a culture of continuous improvement. This type of self-reflection will make you more resilient, one of the most important traits every salesperson needs.

4. Authenticity

Finding and embodying your authentic self will imbue you with the confidence to rise up. Authenticity is one of the key traits every salesperson needs because in sales authenticity forces you to be more vulnerable, which helps you to connect with your customers.

But being authentic is hard in today’s world. We are constantly bombarded with images and suggestions of how we should look, dress, and act. To become more authentic, you have to let go of a lot of  the "inner junk" that doesn’t matter and work on developing the best version of yourself.

Own up to the fact that we are all imperfect people living in an imperfect world. To be authentic means humbly admitting that the invisible sign you wear will always say “under construction”—while you may have mastery in various areas, there is still room for improvement.

Accountability and mentorship will also help you be more authentic. Finding partners who are invested in helping you grow and hold you accountable for your shortcomings is a recipe for meaningful growth. Surround yourself with the type of people who will respectfully call you out on your BS and blind spots. It can be challenging to share honest, negative feedback with the people we care about, but it is so important. Establish a precedent of honesty and accountability with the people around you. Let them know you value their input and won’t hold any vendettas against them if they speak the truth.

It’s also important to be authentic with yourself. Do you find yourself saying, “I’m going to work out, I’m going to eat better, I’m not going to gossip,” but then do those exact things? When you become more honest with yourself, you will become more open with those around you as a result, and you’ll be on your way to living your life with more authenticity.

5. Passion

Passion is about tapping into what drives you and capitalizing on the emotion it stirs to inspire you to rise up. Bestselling author Simon Sinek writes, “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”

When you are pouring your efforts into something you love, passion shows. The work seems effortless. It gets you up in the morning and is the reason you endure late nights and long hours. Passion grows internally and manifests outwardly. Why are you passionate about sales? Identify the driving force and use it to motivate yourself.

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6. Confidence

Confidence is essential when it’s time for you to rise up. It’s a delicate balance, though. Being too confident can make you reckless, which can be as detrimental as timidity. I remember using a profiling scale for that had ego on one side and intellect on the other. Anyone who strayed too far towards one of the extremes was an undesirable candidate.

Too much confidence and your ego will drive your actions; not enough, and you’ll struggle to relate to others. The right balance of confidence will allow you to excel in any situation and rise up in the face of challenges.

7. Commitment

If you’re going to rise to face challenges in your way, you need to commit yourself fully. Commitment is one of the key traits every salesperson needs for success; commitment starts with small promises, but if people trust you to stick to your word about the little things, you’ll soon be trusted to tackle bigger things. Developing commitment means showing up every day and doing what you said you would do, even when no one is looking. Become the type of person who can be counted on.

In business, a lack of commitment can cripple a sales team and destroy morale. I once worked for a company where everyone on the team ruthlessly competed against each other, even to the point of stealing leads. On my first day, the office manager told me to make sure I locked my desk at the end of the day. When I asked whether there was a problem with crime in the building, she answered that I shouldn’t give anyone an advantage. People stole leads and tips from each other whenever they could. It was a cutthroat environment, and you couldn’t count on anyone. I stayed with them for a month, then decided I wanted to work somewhere coworkers were committed to the team, not only to themselves.

Find an environment that fosters a sense of communal commitment, and you’ll be inspired to rise up every day.

8. Focus

Focus is the gas in your tank. It fuels achievement and allows you to tune out the noise. Rich, successful people maintain a high degree of focus, allowing them to rise to any challenge that comes their way.

Focused people live by their calendars and keep their appointments, and it's this type of goal-directed behavior that makes them successful. Staying focused helps you devote 100% of your attention to your goals and enables you to work smarter and more efficiently.

9. Discipline

Finally, discipline will help you rise up. Discipline is the art of doing what is necessary, even when you have no drive left. It’s the practice of sticking to your habits and goals, even when no one is looking. It’s about putting in the work instead of taking the easy way out.

There will be days when you have to get your butt up out of bed and work hard to reach your goals. You’ll have to make friends with discipline if you want to get good at selling.

9 traits every salesperson needs: how do you measure up?

Now that you've read through these traits every salesperson needs, see how you compare. Start by taking the top three traits that you feel most confident in and putting them into one group. Next, rank them in order, with the highest-ranked trait being the one trait you feel absolutely sure of in your life.

Now, do the same thing for the three traits where you think you need to do the most work. And finally, group the remaining three middle traits. When you are done, you will have three groups of traits, all ranked from highest to lowest. Do you notice anything?

Now, go over each trait and come up with examples when you've been your best and when you've been your worst. What does this look like? When you know your own range of behavior and where your strengths lie, then you can start the work of self-improvement.

Some of these traits every salesperson needs may be incredibly hard to implement—expect this. You will never be good at all nine traits all the time. Focus on a few that you can practice working on and get coached on. If you are committed to personal growth and strive to develop the best in you, you will rise up when needed. Your inner superstar is waiting to be introduced to your customers and prospects.

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This excerpt has been adapted and excerpted from Billion Dollar Sales Secrets with permission from Joseph Paranteau. All rights reserved.