If you think a good sales representative is simply a professional with years of experience and excellent communication skills, think again. While extensive professional experience and strong communication skills are important for sales success, they are not the only qualities required to be an outstanding forex sales representative.In fact, the nature of the product and its inextricable ties to fields such as finance and the stock market make it unique, so you need a different kind of salesperson to showcase its advantages to potential clients.
There is a widely accepted principle in sales: an outstanding salesperson can sell anything, and the process of training them to sell a specific product or service is merely a phase in which they become familiar with the technical aspects of that product. While this holds true for most products, it does not apply to foreign exchange for the following reasons.
- First of all, foreign exchange is not a tangible product that you can simply bring home, like a new TV. Therefore, selling foreign exchange is not just a matter of convincing your customers that you can offer better products and prices.
- Second, due to regulatory restrictions, foreign exchange sales representatives must reliably provide information about opportunities to profit from trading, rather than presenting it as an investment.
- Third, sales representatives must work to correct the foreign exchange industry’s negative reputation.
- Fourth, forex sales representatives must be able to present themselves as financial experts—a task that is easier said than done.
So, as a forex sales representative, simply being talkative is far from enough. So, how can you identify an excellent forex sales representative?
- First and foremost, you need someone who is articulate, not just a smooth-talker.
Someone who speaks appropriately, comes across as highly educated over the phone, and is well-versed in finance. Smooth-talking individuals often speak in roundabout ways and contradict themselves; in our day-to-day business, this does more harm than good.We put ourselves in our clients’ shoes: If someone called you claiming to be an account manager at a well-known brokerage firm, you would certainly expect them to speak appropriately, demonstrate a certain level of professional competence, and clearly explain why you should choose their products.
- Second, choose people who are ambitious about making money.
Although this applies to most sales roles, it is particularly important in the forex industry. Because the product is intangible, this makes acquiring customers more difficult.Furthermore, the forex industry is highly competitive, and clients are often skeptical. At the same time, the work environment for forex salespeople tends to be rather monotonous and tedious. This means salespeople won’t have face-to-face meetings or client visits; their work typically consists of making call after call for long stretches of time, with only bathroom breaks to break up the routine.Consequently, those who are only looking for a stable income are likely to be satisfied with a base salary and commissions. They may also work at a slower pace, requiring more time to regroup between calls, which leads to reduced productivity.
- Finally, choose multilingual sales representatives.
Whether your brokerage firm focuses on Asia or Europe, you’ll be entering a global business with a diverse client base, and people in most countries and regions speak several languages. The European Union is a prime example: its member states allow citizens of one member state to move to another just as easily as U.S. citizens move from one state to another.This means you’ll encounter German speakers in the United Kingdom, Polish speakers in France, Spanish speakers in Austria, and so on. While English is the primary international language, the ability to speak with clients in their native language often puts them at ease, builds trust in the agent on the phone, and ultimately leads to them depositing funds.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. But when selecting salespeople, applying these three points is an effort worth making in the long run.
