Doyle Slayton, of Sales BlogCast, had a excellent post today–Is Sales Mindset Shifting?
Are Sales People Too Pushy?
He was pondering how sales people are beginning to think. His examples show an emerging sentiment that sales people are too pushing and customers resent their interruptions.
As a result, a lot of these perceptions are seeping into sales training and advice. Doyle cites one example on Remarkablogger. Now to be fair Remarkablogger is talking about language, not execution. All the same I think it is confusing sales people.
Or, Are Sales People Just Getting Soft?
So is all this language of friending and caring versus targeting and blasting making us soft? Of course it is.
I see a lot of sales people wasting time following and chatting it up on Twitter hoping someone will throw money at them. It doesn’t work that way.
Ahh…I already feel the heat from the flames. Nice on a blustery Michigan winter morning.
However, I am not suggesting you warm-up the power dialer and queue-up the spam blaster. What I am suggesting is: stop giving yourself excuses, stop avoiding the work, stop getting distracted by shiny objects.
Instead remember your job and get focused on bringing in new customers.
We Are Simply Forgetting Sales’ Role in the Buying Process
I really think this whole discussion is about a loss of confidence. Sales has had a rough couple of years and customers have been frustrated they couldn’t afford to buy. And during that time Sales has forgotten its role in the buying process–its importance to customers.
I heard this message loud and clear in what recently became my favorite book I’ve read this year: Threshold Resistance
“…the importance of the salesperson [is] the opportunity to assist customers lacking confidence.”
We are here to “assist customers lacking confidence [to buy].” That means getting back in the game. That means picking up the phone. That means touching our prospects with email. That means sending out the simple card saying, “Hi. How are things going as 2009 winds down?”
I can’t think of a more powerful strategy in today’s market?
In a consumer and business environment struggling to believe in a recovery to recession. In an environment where new technologies and ways of communicating our blowing our prospects’ minds. In an environment where customers are looking for a steady guide to move them forward.
We are the guides that build confidence in our customers. Pick up that phone…someone is waiting to hear from you!
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{ 13 comments }
Salespeople…assisting customers lacking confidence to buy. Very compelling, how true, how useful to remember so we in turn can recall our own confidence in approaching our customer markets. Nice.
Bill,
I think the role of the sales person is to push / probe in a relationship positive way. The whole purpose of qualification is to “assist customers lacking confidence [to buy]” to see their needs more clearly so they can make a decision in confidence to either (a) buy or (b) reject the offering. Consequently, a sales person's challenge is getting prospect engagement and brain bandwidth on the offering the salesperson is there trying to sell. Not an easy task in these hectic, economically troubled times.
In my view, the real issue behind the questions like “are sales people too pushy?” or “should sales people be more caring and less intrusive” is sales lead qualification, something that is also known as “lead nurturing”. I think it is important to understand that this is a marketing activity, not a sales one. As such, it needs to be seen as a part of the marketing process, not a part of the sales process.
Consequently, in response to Doyle Slayton’s question “Can a sales person effectively manage this double mindset?”, and getting to the point of your article here, my answer is that a double mind set can be managed when people know (i) when they should act a marketing person to source and qualify a lead such that the prospect is ready and willing to engage in considering the offering and (ii) when they should act like a sales person to help the prospect evaluate and decide on the offering being presented.
This issue is what gets addressed when companies get a Sales Process Audit done. If you want to check out what that is, read my article Cold Calling: Pain or Raw Business S&M? which talks to the gray zone between sales and marketing.
Tony Johnston
http://www.CompassNorthInc.com
I'm glad you liked the quote. We all know confidence is a big thing in sales. It helps to understand how we add value. Thanks for commenting Juan!
I think the push/probe visual is a good one. You have to make contact and engage the prospect to figure out where you are or should be in you role to educate or facilitate.
And lead nurturing, that is the important process to develop to make all this work and not crush you under the volume of relationships you need to mature.
Good stuff! Thanks for adding to the discussion Tony!
Agreed Bill. Doyle's post got me thinking, too. I keep saying that it's the salespeople who are the best and ONLY hope of pulling us out of this economic slump. We need to remember that buying and selling are what this country (and the rest of the world, too) tick. Great post!
Good info. I think with the way the economy has been the past couple of years too many sales people try to find the magic bullet that will make customers flock to them. These days i think a return to basics is what is needed in many cases.
Roy Paeth – Chicago First Time Home Buyer
Hi Bill, this is my first time on your site and I appreciated your frankness in this article as well as your 'action-oriented' philosophy. In times such as these, you're absolutely right, if the news/friends/media/etc won't give our clients confidence, we sure as heck better. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
Jerry,
You are so right about how buying and selling make things “tick.” America is one of the most consumer-based markets in the world (proved by one of the lowest savings rates). When those consumers lose confidence, like they did in 2006-2007 we get the recession.
So, if you think of sales people as those who help bring the confidence back it gives you a little different perspective on your job. A little challenge and pride in our step.
Thanks for the comment Jerry.
Roy,
I agree. It saddens me when I see sales people chasing scams and “silver bullets” to come back from a decline. Yanking yourself up by the bootstraps simply means doing the hard work, don't you think? Making some calls, setting some appointments, making some friends. The fun part of the job–really.
Marcus,
I'm so glad you found me. It is a pleasure to have you here. Thanks for the comment and adding to the discussion!
Bill,
Being in the mortgage industry many of my colleagues have left the industry because they survived on buying leads and really never built a successful referral system. Those that are still left in the industry never relied on the quick buck and built a solid base.
Roy Paeth
Chicago First Time Home Buyer
Bill,
Being in the mortgage industry many of my colleagues have left the industry because they survived on buying leads and really never built a successful referral system. Those that are still left in the industry never relied on the quick buck and built a solid base.
Roy Paeth
Chicago First Time Home Buyer
Bill,
Being in the mortgage industry many of my colleagues have left the industry because they survived on buying leads and really never built a successful referral system. Those that are still left in the industry never relied on the quick buck and built a solid base.
Roy Paeth
Chicago First Time Home Buyer
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