The Most Important Predictor of Sales Success

By Philip Delves Broughton 

Philip Delves Broughton is the author of The Art of the Sale and writes regularly for the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Spectator.

No profession in business has a more complex reputation than sales. When we think of salespeople—from Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman to Donald Trump to Steve Jobs—all kinds of contradictory ideas and images jangle in our minds. They can be persuaders and bullies, seducers and rogues, dream-makers and charlatans. But without them, no business exists.

It’s not just salespeople who must sell. Entrepreneurs must persuade others of the value of an idea or company which has yet to take concrete form. CEOs ...

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