Top 10 Telemarketer Traits
What type of person do you think makes a good telemarketer? Is it the person who is always “bubbly”, the person you can “hear” smiling on the phone, the laid-back person who can “go with the flow”, a combination of all these personality traits, or something else entirely? This article will provide the Top 10 Telemarketer Traits.
Having worked in the telemarketing industry for 15 years, I’ve compiled my own personal “Top 10 Telemarketer Traits”, in no particular order, that are necessary to succeed at marketing goods or services via the telephone.
A successful telemarketer should have these traits:
- A “smile” in their voice
top-10-telemarketer-traits
- Enthusiastic, bubbly and happy
- Treats the customer or prospect as “right”, even when they are not
- Understands their product or services
- Is comfortable talking with people
- Good listener
- Professional
- Courteous
- Calm, cool and collected
- Possesses the ability to ask open-ended questions and adapt the conversation
In an article originally published in Business 2 Business, May 2006, by Ira. S. Wolfe, “Sales Personality Tests: What Makes Salespeople Tick”, Success Performance Solutions, (accessed October 1, 2009), Wolfe discusses research done on using
personality tests for hiring salespeople. He also discusses “The Big 5 Personality Traits” and how they can be remembered by the acronym OCEAN, which represents: All information is protected by copy-right laws and may not be reproduced without written authorization.
Sales and Prospecting Guide
- Openness to Experience – A salesperson that’s open to new experiences will thrive in a changing market.
- Conscientiousness – A bubbly, spontaneous person needs to balance this with conscientiousness in order to be successful at the administrative side of their sales job.
- Extroversion – A good trait to have, but temper enthusiasm with good listening skills.
- Agreeableness – Being agreeable is good, but a person who is too agreeable, and tries to avoid conflict, will have difficulty closing a sale.
- Neuroticism – A reasonable level of neuroticism will energizes a salesperson; too much may wreak havoc. Wolf says in his article, “Perseverance and resilience -two traits absolutely necessary when you’re talking about commission-based sales – are linked to the neuroticism trait.”
In Wolfe’s article referenced above he states, “What it comes down to is this: Single personality traits do not predict performance but combinations of personality traits do. More specifically, unique combinations of personality traits working together predict an
individual’s natural ability to succeed at certain work-related skills.”
Bottom-line, each of the personality traits in my “Top 10” list, or Wolfe’s “Big 5” list above cannot predict a telemarketer’s success. However, a healthy mix of several of these traits will boost telemarketing success and strengthen sales efforts.
Do you need help molding the personalities of your telemarketing team? Rich Enterprises Inc has a seasoned team of telemarketers that can work with most industries and take a conversation from start to finish.
Contact us to get your next marketing program started or view our full website.
(888) 443-5247
