“The personality profile of the technology salesperson has shifted from aggressive and persistent to

In the cloud, where customers can bolt almost as easily as they sign on, sales reps need to know their products cold so they can answer the most arcane questions, says Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot. “The job is no longer to sell as much software as possible. It’s to help the customer get as much out of the software as possible,” says Halligan, whose company offers marketing and sales software. “The personality profile of the technology salesperson has shifted from aggressive and persistent to technical and smart.”