For David McNamara, vice-president of sales at West Ottawa Hyundai, personality is key. He prefers to hire people with no experience and train them in-house. (Photo by Etienne Ranger)

Although managers might be able to teach new salespeople effective selling techniques, it is almost impossible to reprogram an introvert to dominate a conversation or an aggressive person to become a patient listener. The perfect sales personality is part accountant, part psychologist, part politician and of course, there is the "X" factor – that intangible something that draws people. However, all sales people have different combinations of these traits.

Good managers also know that personalities within a sales team can either push each member to achieve their personal best or poison the working environment.

David McNamara, vice-president of sales at West Ottawa Hyundai, knows the importance of personality all too well. He spoke to OBJ about why a candidate's personality, not experience, is more important to his sales team.

OBJ: Do you have to deal with different personality types at your office?

MCNAMARA: Oh, definitely. Everybody is an individual.

OBJ: What kinds of salespeople do you manage?

MCNAMARA: We just went through a hiring campaign where we had three openings for new salespeople. There were 32 applicants whom I actually interviewed. Two of them were professional car salespeople and the rest of them were not. I chose one gentleman who has experience in management through Rogers Mobile, I chose another gentleman who had experience in the hospitality industry, and then I had a gentleman from the east coast who is...energetic and has management experience at the video store level.

OBJ: Those sounds like very diverse applicants.

MCNAMARA: Well, they're all very outgoing, they have good mannerisms, good body language. I base a lot of hiring on those things. I look for people who are responsible who have been on their previous job for a length of time so I can see if they have given it a good shot. The automobile industry has changed in my career but the thing that has stayed the same is that people still have the same expectations and I train my people on how to fulfil their needs immediately.

OBJ: What are the other members of your sales team like?

MCNAMARA: Other people in the dealership include one gentleman who has been with us a few years and I promoted him to used car manager...His job here is to make sure that the cars we take in get reconditioned in accordance with our process here. His personality style is very diligent.

Another young salesperson I hired from Smiths Falls. The reason I hired him was because he is married to my daughter's maid of honour so he was a bit of a pity hire at the beginning. I don't usually hire that way. But I met him and he was very personable, very young for what I usually consider, but he had this look in his eye that he was very eager. And he is now selling double the industry standard, what the average salesperson does, right out of the gate in his first year.

OBJ: Do you look for people with different sales techniques to work at your dealership?

MCNAMARA: No, I actually prefer them to come in with no experience and then train them the way we want it done. It's very hard to break habits from other dealerships, especially if they come from a dealership that doesn't focus on the whole sales process. We even train them how to give a proper handshake, how to meet and greet, dos and don'ts like chewing gum and wearing sunglasses. We really want them to be professional.

We want different personalities, but we want our strategy consistent: sell yourself, sell the dealership, sell the car. If they don't want to buy the car, they sell the appointment to come back when they are ready.

Out of those applicants I was telling you about we had one professional who was asked to leave the dealership because he was telling me how he was going to make profits off people and bragging about his commissions (at his previous position), and we just don't do it that way.

OBJ: Why are personalities so important to you?

MCNAMARA: If it got to the point that people bought based on product alone, all the car dealerships would just turn into Sears outlets. We need the personalities. We have the number one Hyundai salesman in Canada working for us here; he's been here for five years. He knows how to read people from before he worked here. He owned some coffee shops and how many people do coffee shop owners see every day? I have a man from India, and he is fast. If I need some information, he goes online and gets it and shares it with all of us.

OBJ: How do you keep such diverse personalities from clashing?

MCNAMARA: Simple: when I hire someone I tell them, "You've got three months to make this team, and I'm not going to ask you once how you are doing in the three months, I'm going to ask everyone else in the showroom how you are doing." I tell them right up front and they know it. There was one gentleman who was here a month and a half and I sat him down and said, "I love you like a brother but you clashed with this person here and told this guy to go 'f' himself because you wouldn't do what he told you. You are at these guys' disposal because everything they are asking you to do they have done themselves." So it cost him his job. Although he would have done well, my workplace culture is more important. We focus more on team than the salesperson and we all know it.

THE EXPERTS SAY

There is a way I use to profile people for simplicity. There are four basic personality types, known as the DISC profile. We are all composites of these types and some are more predominant in one area than others. The first is dominant. These people are competitive, direct, persistent, they're self-starters. The next type is the influencer. These people are confident, charming, enthusiastic. They are very popular and sociable. The S stands for steady or supporters. These people are amiable, good listeners, patient, relaxed. These are your solid team players. Then the last category is the conscientious or compliant personality types. These people are accurate, analytical, they are very orderly and do everything according to the rules.

You need to have all these different personalities on your team because you're dealing with customers who have the same personality types. Different sales functions require different personality types and in some cases it can be helpful to lean towards one type over another. For example with door-to-door sales, that might be something the supporters and the conscientious are not comfortable with. But if you are in a corporate climate with a lot of compliance rules and regulation, that is something the dominant personality might not do very well because they just want to get on with it. So each personality fills a different role.

Sandy Kemp, business coach, Action International Canada Inc.

As a sales manager, you want to have people who are competitive and love to win but also have that balance where they really do love people. High performers have a balance of high levels of empathy and also high levels of optimism, meaning that they know how to control their results and they are always looking for new ways to innovate.

But I'm also looking for people who are process-oriented and detail-oriented. They are good to have on sales teams because they help to make sure that followup is done on time with the customer and that delivery is done the way the customer wants it.

Most sales managers don't spend enough time in the field with their sales team and they don't understand what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are, leading them to be ineffective.

You can't always stop different personalities from clashing, but there are a couple of things you can do. If you're selling in a team environment, having a team compensation program along with individual performance plan will help because it will encourage people to work together.

I think it's also important for managers to reward and recognize individual strengths. If the manager takes the time to figure out what motivates each individual they could get the team to work together. So one member could want a spa package, one would get hockey tickets. It doesn't have to cost any more, it's just more individualized.

Colleen Francis, Engage Selling Solutions