Several weeks ago, I delivered the keynote address an actuarialconference at one of the Big 4 accounting firms. These really smartpeople spend their days analyzing data and calculatingrisk.

Just the thought of “selling” makes most actuaries cringe. Theyview people who do it as slimy, manipulative and disgusting — notat all like them. Yet their leadership team very wiselyrealized that future growth depended on them acquiring theseskills.

How was I going to change the actuaries' perception ofsales?

I quickly realized that I needed data from reliable resources toopen their mind to new ways of thinking. What I foundsurprised me — yet it rang so true.

What personality types do the best in sales?

One of my favorite researchers is SteveW. Martin, a professor at the USC Marshall School ofBusiness and author of Heavy Hitter SalesPsychology. He wanted to find out how top sellersdiffered from average or struggling reps.

To do that, he administered personality tests to one thousandB2B salespeople who worked at some of the world's leadingcompanies. Here's what his research showed along with afew of my own thoughts.

• 91 percent of top sellers had medium to high scores formodesty and humility.
  What? Winning salespeople aren't totally egotistical? No. Theydon't have to be the center of attention. They don't need to flaunttheir wins. Instead, they want their customers to take the creditfor making wise decisions. And they truly value the support theyget from their own colleagues along the way.

• 85 percent of top sellerswere highly conscientious.
  Highly conscientious. Not just average. Essentially, thatmeans they don't leave anything to chance. They research, study andthink about how they can help their customers make a good businessdecision. They keep things moving, involving the right people atthe right time. They're reliable hard workers.

• 82 percent of top sellers showed extremely highcuriosity levels.
  Extremely curious. That's fascinating. Top sellers want to learnmore — about their customers, market, products, value propositions,triggering events, the buying process and the individuals they dealwith. With a deep hunger for knowledge and information, they askmore and better questions.

• Top sellers were 30 percent less gregarious thanaverage sellers.
  Contrary to popular opinion, being super friendly is not the key tosales success. Extroversion does not trump introversion. Sellerswho are overly focused on building deep personal relationships havea harder time challenging their customer's thinking and gettingthem to move off the status quo. They don't want to rock theproverbial boat.

• 84 percent of top sellersscored very high inachievement orientation.
  Not just high — very high. That means they have a goal in mind andthat they're damned sure going to do everything in their power toachieve it. Top sellers keep track of progress and are brutallyhonest with how things are going. They seek out potential obstaclesso they can eliminate/minimize them before they occur. Theystrategize, coming up with Plans A, B and even C. They never hopefor success, they create it.

This is NOT the image that most people have of salespeople. Yetit is certainly my own experience working with thousands of sellersthroughout the years.

Now, back to the actuaries. Believe it or not, these very smartpeople could identify with all the statistics above. They weremodest, conscientious, curious, introverted achievers. Knowingthis was the crucial first step. They had to see that it waspossible for people like them to succeed.

That's how we all are. Yet all too often we make assumptionsthat limit our success. Perhaps more data would help!

Related: 3 overlooked productivity tips for salesreps