The more you know about your customer, the more successful you will when attempting to increase your sales. Here is a summary from the sales coaches at Launch Pad Solutions with some of the areas where having information will help your sales effectiveness.
On a scale of 1-10, how efficient do you believe you are at work? 
Could you use some help? Let’s be honest: there is a lot of “work” at work. Most of us are so busy trying to complete the day’s tasks and put out fires that we often neglect to consider if we are functioning in an efficient way. Seana Turner shares a few common mistakes, and some ideas for how to address them.
For Brad Shorr’s coaching and advising program, he compiled this list of qualities that sales people should develop to the best of their ability. Here they are – please let us know if you have any to add!
1. Prompt
2. Hard working
3. Ethical
4. Always listening
5. Asking the right questions
6. Sincere
7. Creative
8. Full of empathy
9. Positive
10. Organized
11. Attentive to detail
12. Thoroughly prepared
13. Good humored
14. Focused
15. Resourceful
Looking over this list, …is it possible for a person to excel in all these things? Are some of them mutually exclusive? For instance, can one person be a great strategist and a great tactician?
Which are the most important qualities?
By Arnold Anderson, Demand Media 
To be successful in sales, you need to identify and refine the top sales characteristics. You may find that some of these characteristics come naturally to you, while others require refinement. Analyze your professional approach and determine what changes you need to make to improve your sales success.
By Sharpenz 
What does it take to be successful in sales? There’s no easy answer because the list is long. It’s one of the great debates in the sales community – WHAT does it take to be successful in sales?
One indication of the debate is the response to a recent question posted on LinkedIn. The question asked:
What is more important in sales, great selling skills or expertise on the product?
The more than 250 respondents – sales managers and sales professionals – were split with their answers. Many couldn’t choose one over the other.
By Shamus Brown, The Shameless Sales Blog 
What are you thinking before you meet with a potential customer, or pick up the phone to dial a prospect?
I ask because what you think before and while you meet or talk with your prospects and customers greatly affects the outcome of your meeting.
By Ken Blanchard, www.SellingPower.com 
Feedback – from managers, customers, and associates – can help salespeople improve their performance. But if the way you give or receive feedback causes hostility or hurt feelings, it may do more harm than good. Constructive criticism is constructive only if its practical benefits outweigh any negative emotions it stirs. The next time you’re on the giving or receiving end of constructive criticism, use these ideas to offer or accept it gracefully – then put the feedback to use.
Looking to make your month the greatest ever? Who isn’t? Ask any successful salesperson the secret for having great months and they will all say — positive attitude, creative preparation, and consistent performance.
To succeed month to month, you must execute day to day. Here are 31 creative ideas mixed with fundamental sales concepts. Put them into your work life on a one-a-day basis, and sales are sure to follow.
You can’t add more days to the calendar, but you can make every one more productive. I challenge you to add these to your day — each day.
This whitepaper, published by ANOVA Consulting Group, explores the five most common
sales issues that can impact a salesperson’s ability
to win deals. Based on feedback from thousands of
postdecision win/loss interviews, a few themes
consistently surface regarding why salespeople lose in new business situations. This paper uses the aggregate results of these interviews to analyze the most prevalent reasons salespeople lose.
By Jonathan Farrington, (SalesHQ) 
As you can imagine, I am often asked by sales leaders, anxious to recruit the best salespeople they can afford, just what is it that makes a consistently top performer, what are their characteristics, where are their strengths, and what differentiates them?
Over the past fifteen years I have trained and developed thousands of sales professionals, from foundation right up to ‘master craftsman’ level and this has given me the opportunity to formulate an accurate profile of a Top 5% Achiever.
So What Is It That Top 5% Players Do?
