The secret selling ingredient (Warning: may contain traces of nuts)

Deeply passionate salespeople are easily aroused by their customers. When they win a new contract, so intense their elation a little bit of wee escapes!

Sure, they appear to be seemingly normal at first glance, but if you peer a little closer there is something peculiar bubbling beneath the surface.

These salespeople aren’t just fond of what they sell, they fantasise about it. Removing themselves from the stresses of the everyday sales grind ― to escape to a safe and warm place. That is to say, loving what they sell and believing in it with abnormal passion and vice like conviction.

The best salespeople in the world believe (rightly or wrongly) the product or service they sell is superior in their market. Each word that leaps from their lips is lubricated with so much sincerity the customer is helpless to deny it and effortlessly seduced by it.

Some people call these types of sales professionals ‘evangelists,’ I simply call them nuts! You will come across these “nutters” in your everyday travels. They can be found in almost all industries, all companies and all parts of the globe. Fearless, hungry, deeply passionate and driven, they will chew your ears off about what they sell and do. So certain, yes at times deluded, but always so bloody convincing!

Give me a team of nutty salespeople and I’ll show you an extraordinarily successful business.

To maximise their potential what they sell must be genuinely valuable, this is non-negotiable. Nutty salespeople and genuine value are a deadly mix. These people may be overly optimistic at times, but let’s not tell them that, they’re having so much fun and success it would be a shame to spoil it for them.

Trent Leyshan is the founder of sales training company BOOM! Sales and author of OUTLAW & The Naked Salesman.