Is the best way to build a strong sales team to find great salespeople first and then train them? While handling rejection is important, is it really the most important skill for success in sales?
In this reaction, Matt breaks down why rapport-building, empathy, and communication skills might matter even more. People buy from those they like and trust, not just from the most persistent person in the room. A great salesperson isn’t just someone who won’t quit after hearing “no”—they’re someone who can genuinely connect with potential buyers.
There are tons of people out on social media giving business advice. Some of it is good advice, but most of it isn’t good. In this series watch CapForge’s owner react to different advice videos. He’s an expert in all things business and has 20+ years of experience under his belt. Some of the things he reacts to might even surprise you!
Video Transcript:
Business Advice Video:
The best salespeople are not trained, they’re found and then trained. The quality of your salespeople is everything. And the best way to get quality is to scream like crazy for two core elements. Here’s the first one. You need somebody who can deal with rejection, right? That’s obvious. But you also need somebody who’s warm enough that their ego doesn’t get away of the personal relationship, so they don’t offend people.
Matt’s review:
OK, I think that’s somewhat valid. To be in sales at all, you can’t be fazed by hearing no because you’re going to hear a lot more nos than yeses no matter what you’re selling. So I think that one is probably pretty obvious, right? You have to be able to handle hearing no, but you also have to be able to be able to be warm and build rapport. I would say building rapport is even more important than just being warm and even being persistent. People buy from people they like, so you want your sales team to be likable people. If they come across as pushy and annoying and persistent and just driven by getting you to sign. I think there’s very few industries that really benefit from having somebody like that in your sales team. You want somebody that it can offer to help, right? Because ultimately a good sale happens when what somebody’s buying from you, they believe is gonna help them. It’s gonna make them look better, feel better, perform better, whatever it is, right? They’re looking for something that’s gonna make them better. And they’re gonna feel better about buying that from somebody who cares about helping them in that way. So I think empathy, warmth, building rapport, being able to explain and meet somebody on their level, being a good listener, those are all key elements of being good at sales. Hearing no is just part of it. And but if you’re selling a good product and you know it’s good and you know it helps people, then when you hear no, it’s more just disappointing. Uh, it’s too bad. I know I really could have helped them, but they just weren’t interested or you know, they had some reason they weren’t gonna become a customer. So you feel bad that you weren’t able to help them. But you don’t take it personally because you know it’s not a statement of judgment about you or about the product or service that you’re selling. So I agree with the general points, but I think there’s more to it, and I really think finding somebody who’s good at building rapport is the key element for a successful salesperson.