Women on Top in New Sales Industry Survey

A new survey of the sales industry reveals who sales professionals believe make the best sales people and the qualities needed in order to succeed

66% of women and 53% of men believe women make the best sales people

According to sales professionals, Alan Sugar and Hillary Clinton would be the celebrities most likely to succeed in a career in sales

Personality, honesty and integrity are the top qualities needed in a successful sales person - good looks are at the bottom of the list

87% of sales professionals agree that money is the top incentive for making a sale

Over 50% believe the reputation of sales people has improved over the last 10 years

A new survey of over 200 sales professionals has found that two-thirds of women and over half of men believe that women make the best sales people, underlining the growing reputation of women in the sales industry.

The survey, for leading graduate recruitment and sales training specialist Pareto Law, questioned sales professionals across the UK on what they considered to be the most important qualities for a sales person and who they thought would be most likely to succeed.

Both men (53%) and women (66%) agreed that women do make better sales people with Hillary Clinton, closely followed by Davina McCall, voted as the top two female celebrities most likely to succeed in a career in sales. Alan Sugar was voted the most likely male, followed by Derren Brown.

When asked why women make the best sales people, men believe the main reason is that women are better at actually closing a deal; while women stated they are better than men when it comes to dealing with people. Other female skills highlighted included being more organised and being able to handle more work, while male skills were identified as strong personalities and selling skills.

Jonathan Fitchew, managing director of Pareto Law, said: When it comes to sales, we often see an ongoing battle between the sexes. Television programmes like The Apprentice have increased peopleís interest in the sales industry but have also highlighted the different approaches of men and women to the same sales issues. Both sexes have a range of skills to bring to a sales role, but it is the individual mix coupled with energy and enthusiasm that will determine how they fare.

When it comes to the individual qualities required to become a successful sales person, men ranked honesty as most important (53%) while women placed most value on personality (47%). Both agreed that integrity was also key, coming third overall (41%). Good looks came at the bottom of the list with only 3% of sales professionals ranking this as important.

This focus on professionalism, rather than the hard sell, supports the fact that over half of the sales professionals questioned believe that the reputation of sales has improved over the last ten years, with 55% of men and 47% of women considering this to be the case.

Both men (87%) and women (86%) agreed that the top motivational incentive for sales people was money with the average sales executive expecting to earn between 25 - 35k including bonuses and commission in their first year of work. Other incentives included verbal praise, overseas holidays and cars.