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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