I was talking to a consultant today who was being assessed for his ‘Sales DNA.’ It’s an important attribute, particularly to small companies always in search of new business.

What is Sales DNA?

If you have it, you are the type of person who scopes out the passengers on an airplane, looking for possible connections. If you don’t have it, you plop down in your seat, put your headphones on and jump into a magazine.

If you have it, you read the news services with excitement — hoping one of your connections just landed a CEO job and could be a new prospect. If you don’t, you may be oblivious to connections and may not care about who knows who.

As a consultant, if you have Sales DNA, you are constantly looking for new business and not afraid to ask for it. If you don’t, you’re dependent on others to ‘feed you’.

If you have it, you’re always ‘on’, thinking about pitching yourself — whether at the gym, a cocktail party or at Starbucks.

And if you have Sales DNA, you’ll be a great fit in a small company where you’ll stand out by the connections you make, the leads you generate and the business you bring in.