Vision statement: do you really know who your best salespeople are?

The article discusses and presents in graphical format findings of research that identified eight distinct categories of sales personnel. Just 9% of those in the group sampled were "experts" who performed well and kept customers happy. Thirteen percent were "closers," or people effective at overcoming customer objections to conclude a deal. Among the less effective performers were "socializers" who were adept at making small talk but closed few sales, and "narrators" who were overly dependent on marketing materials.