This is a question that sales leaders all across the globe grapple with because they all want to hire sales champions and build sales champions. The answer is relatively simple, and it’s based on studies that have come from numerous places. It comes down to optimism. Salespeople who have a higher degree of optimism tend to become champions, and for good reason.

Salespeople face a lot of defeat, a lot of rejection, and so many things can go wrong in sales that salespeople who wallow in that defeat have a tendency to crash and burn pretty quickly.

Sales Champs Forget Failure Fast

However, the salespeople who forget rejection fast or forget failure fast and see the next yes, the next opportunity around the corner— those are the salespeople who are more likely to be more mentally resilient. They have a stronger ability to make a shift or be more agile.

They’re the ones that when things go wrong, rather than saying, “Why me? Why is this happening to me?” they’re more likely to say, “What am I supposed to learn from this failure? What am I supposed to learn from this defeat?” Therefore, they continue to grow and improve over time.

So How Do You Find Salespeople Like That?

The key is in your interview process. During the interview, you’re looking for that glimmer of optimism. You need to ask questions about what they have done in the past when they faced defeat. Have them give you a specific situation where they failed and what they did next.

Create A Winning Atmosphere

As a leader, you want to hire people who have a high degree of optimism, but you also want to build that optimism by creating an atmosphere that people want to be in.

That’s a winning atmosphere that rewards people for the good work that they do by patting them on the back and doesn’t beat them up for the things that they do wrong.

Instead, it coaches them when they do things that don’t work out to get better or to learn from that.

Through your coaching and through your leadership, you want to build an environment where you’re fostering and nurturing that optimism because optimism is the greatest predictor of a person becoming a sales champion.