I ran into this article in an archive from Entrepreneur magazine - it lists some of the characteristics of great sales professionals in a humorous way. Read it here.
I particularly enjoyed these observations -
Sales superiority starts in the mind. "The supersalesperson possesses a propensity for personal growth," says Rick Sapio, founder and CEO of Mutuals.com Inc., a New York City holdings company that sells mutual funds to investors. Sales superheroes hunger for knowledge about themselves, their customers and their products—as well as the products and services of competitors, adds Sapio, a former broker.
"They're achievement-oriented," agrees Sean Magennis, founder and CEO of Thomas International USA Inc., a sales and marketing consulting company in Dallas. Every sale has a learning objective—determining what was done well or poorly." Failure becomes an opportunity to learn. Instead of blocking failure, supersalespeople examine it objectively, thereby inhibiting the spiral of self-doubt that many salespeople fall into. And, says Magennis, "A supersalesperson reads, takes courses, keeps a journal, writes down professional goals and listens to tapes of sales calls. He or she mimics top performers and develops a relationship with a mentor."
