Debunking the Great Sales Myth
Debunking the Great Sales Myth
The progress of sales as a profession is often hampered by myths, misunderstanding and plain ignorance. Over many years of testing, recruiting, researching and training salespeople, we have learned quite a few things about salespeople. Some may surprise you and some may not.
The 39% factor
Interviews with over 100 000 business decision-makers have revealed that in b-2-b markets a customer’s decision to buy is based on:-
• Salesperson’s competence (39%)
• A total customer solution (22%)
• Quality of product or service (21%)
• Competitive price (18%)
The salesperson is the sale.
Commodity sales reps as stars
Customers tell us that the best sales forces in the world are to be found in commodity and not “high tech” markets, as one might expect. The top 3 are fine paper, business forms and MRO (maintenance, repair and operations). The bottom four are pharmaceuticals, computers and software, delivery/freight, and telecommunications.
Sales superstars usually don’t shine academically
This has very little to do with intelligence and everything to do with preferences. Visit any campus and the sales superstars of the future will be on the rag committee, a member of the local drinking club, and perpetually in the students union, when he is not with his professor negotiating his F to an E. He knows everyone on campus and everyone knows him.
Sales talent can be sharpened not created
“You can’t train a person for a job they can’t do!” This old “saw” is typically forgotten in the rush to fill open territories or cover critical positions. The key is distinguishing between “talent-based” skills and those that can be learned. The most frequently identified talent positions include: sports, military leadership, political electability, entrepreneurship, creative writing, computer programming, design, mathematicsal, artistic, and most sales skills. This doesn’t imply you can’t teach anybody how to write programs, run for office, or play golf, but all the training in the world won’t make most of us into the next Ernie Els or Tiger Woods.
Sales training is not enough
We are all familiar with typical sales training. Some focuses on the basics and some on more advanced skills. These are necessary but not enough. Research in two categories sheds critical light on the sales skills that make a difference in the customer’s decision to buy.
The first comes from correlating customers’ rating of salespeople against the volume, margin, and repeat purchases they made. Only three sales skills made a difference:
The second source of research analysis focuses on why customers defect. The No.1 complaint? “The sales rep didn’t understand my business.” The most powerful sales training focuses on learning the customer’s business and being able to manipulate your own systems efficiently to serve the customer’s business priorities.
Top-performing salespeople cannot sell in all markets
It would be convenient to believe a simple philosophy, such as “just learn the skills and apply yourself, and you can sell to anybody.” Unfortunately, customers are too different for a one-size-fits-all approach. Some customers need a “high-tech” solution, while others need “high touch.” Some want neither and some want both. Just like professionals in other talent-based careers, the jack-of-all-trades is master of none. The most unique or specialised skills include new business development (hunters or rainmakers), strategic account managers, and outbound telesales personnel. Job descriptions that equally emphasise a number of criteria -- such as “penetrate existing accounts,” “develop new business,” and “expand to multiple contact levels within certain key accounts” -- cannot be filled by 99 percent of even the best salespeople. Even if such a rare superstar were found, the compensation level would be way out of reach.
Debunking the Great Sales Myth - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Gilbert's Website.
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Debunking The Great Sales Myths
The progress of sales as a profession is often hampered by myths, misunderstanding and plain ignorance. Over many years of testing, recruiting, researching and training salespeople, we have learned quite a few things about salespeople. Some may surprise you and some may not.
The 39% factor
Interviews with over 100 000 business decision-makers have revealed that in b-2-b markets a customer’s decision to buy is based on:-
• Salesperson’s competence (39%)
• A total customer solution (22%)
• Quality of product or service (21%)
• Competitive price (18%)
The salesperson is the sale.
Commodity sales reps as stars
Customers tell us that the best sales forces in the world are to be found in commodity and not “high tech” markets, as one might expect. The top 3 are fine paper, business forms and MRO (maintenance, repair and operations). The bottom four are pharmaceuticals, computers and software, delivery/freight, and telecommunications.
Sales superstars usually don’t shine academically
This has very little to do with intelligence and everything to do with preferences. Visit any campus and the sales superstars of the future will be on the rag committee, a member of the local drinking club, and perpetually in the students union, when he is not with his professor negotiating his F to an E. He knows everyone on campus and everyone knows him.
Sales talent can be sharpened not created
“You can’t train a person for a job they can’t do!” This old “saw” is typically forgotten in the rush to fill open territories or cover critical positions. The key is distinguishing between “talent-based” skills and those that can be learned. The most frequently identified talent positions include: sports, military leadership, political electability, entrepreneurship, creative writing, computer programming, design, mathematicsal, artistic, and most sales skills. This doesn’t imply you can’t teach anybody how to write programs, run for office, or play golf, but all the training in the world won’t make most of us into the next Ernie Els or Tiger Woods.
Sales training is not enough
We are all familiar with typical sales training. Some focuses on the basics and some on more advanced skills. These are necessary but not enough. Research in two categories sheds critical light on the sales skills that make a difference in the customer’s decision to buy.
The first comes from correlating customers’ rating of salespeople against the volume, margin, and repeat purchases they made. Only three sales skills made a difference:
The second source of research analysis focuses on why customers defect. The No.1 complaint? “The sales rep didn’t understand my business.” The most powerful sales training focuses on learning the customer’s business and being able to manipulate your own systems efficiently to serve the customer’s business priorities.
Top-performing salespeople cannot sell in all markets
It would be convenient to believe a simple philosophy, such as “just learn the skills and apply yourself, and you can sell to anybody.” Unfortunately, customers are too different for a one-size-fits-all approach. Some customers need a “high-tech” solution, while others need “high touch.” Some want neither and some want both. Just like professionals in other talent-based careers, the jack-of-all-trades is master of none. The most unique or specialised skills include new business development (hunters or rainmakers), strategic account managers, and outbound telesales personnel. Job descriptions that equally emphasise a number of criteria -- such as “penetrate existing accounts,” “develop new business,” and “expand to multiple contact levels within certain key accounts” -- cannot be filled by 99 percent of even the best salespeople. Even if such a rare superstar were found, the compensation level would be way out of reach.
Debunking the Great Sales Myth - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Gilbert's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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