We have made it to the last part of this series, where the remaining Sales Success Trait is Authenticity.

Like all other traits, you could try to debate the priority order for salespeople, but this order is truly what it takes to be successful in sales (and one more time – in life).

Why Authenticity Is Not First

You could try and put Persistence ahead of the others, but that will just make someone a bully who doesn’t listen and isn’t coachable.

You could attempt to put Creativity first, but if you aren’t Open or Curious, how can one really be Creative? Where would that magical Creativity come from?

You might think that I – a guy who wrote a book titled Selling With Authentic Persuasion – would put Authenticity first. That would be on-brand, right?

While it is important to be Authentic, how valuable is that Authenticity if you prioritize that over everything else? And when I say ‘valuable’ – I am referring to the value that your prospective customer is looking to get from you and potentially from your product/service.

The Danger of Leading With Authenticity

Just like Persistence, if you lead with Authenticity but not the other traits, then it’s you focused on being you. Not focused on the other person, what they need or want. Not how you can help them. Not coming up with solutions for them. You could potentially just think that you being you should be enough.

Ever been around someone like that?

Oh boy are they Authentic. They are probably at the more extroverted end of the spectrum. They are fully okay with who they are and want the world to see it. But, unfortunately for everyone around them, they are so focused on being their Authentic selves, they don’t really care about anyone else and might not even really acknowledge the presence of others.

You have certainly met this person at a party, event, maybe even a business conference. There is a good chance you have encountered this type of salesperson. They are leaning on their Authentic extrovert charisma and Persistence to get people to buy from them. 

They are like a sales bull in a prospect china shop.

Yes – I know you have dealt with them or worked alongside them.

The Five Traits in Order of Importance

In my experience with a lot of salespeople, and analyzing the traits common among the ones who are successful (by the way success is not just based on revenue or total annual income to me, it’s also the experience that the prospect gets on their journey as a customer and it’s about the level of professionalism as a part of an organization), the traits must come in this order:

1. Openness
2. Curiosity
3. Creativity
4. Persistence
5. Authenticity

Once you are Open to new ideas and feedback, and you are Curious about your prospect at a deep level, you can then leverage Creativity to overcome any obstacles with Persistence to not stop.

Once all that is in play, your Authenticity will matter to your prospects. They won’t care about the true you until they know that you care about them. Those first four traits show them you prioritize them over yourself. At that moment, they want the real (professional) you.

What Is Authenticity?

Now, what is Authenticity? There are many definitions out there, and some people struggle to really define it. To me, it is the you that you are when no one is looking, if someone were to see you at the grocery store, if someone were on your team. Of course, in the world place it should be the ‘professional’ version, but my goal would be that it’s pretty close to the same when you aren’t at work.

Others would refer to this as transparency. You know what you are getting. No tricks, no games, no façade, no acting.

What you say when the customers aren’t around isn’t much different than what you would say with them in earshot (I have heard so many salespeople bad mouth prospects behind the scenes, but then pretend to like them to their face. Humans can detect that hypocrisy, even if they don’t know why they don’t like someone…they can feel it).

I was recently training some new hires. We spent a few days roll playing, training, practicing, etc. All the normal stuff. Then on day three no one was available to help a new prospect, so I jumped in and the trainees were listening in. After it was over, the feedback I got was “wow – you were the same with them, talking to them and asking them questions, like you were with us this week.” As if there should be a ‘Trainer Jason’ and a ‘Sales Jason’.



Conclusion: Authenticity Comes Naturally

Focus on these five traits, in this order. And when you do, the Authenticity part will just be natural, because the other ones will set you up with the confidence to just be who are without having to act a certain way or pretend to be something different than who you are.