What's the problem with sales people?

If I said the word salesman, what words now fill your mind?

Pushy?    Gift of the gab?    Says anthing to get a sale?   Dishonest?

These kind of perceptions are very common and are held also by sales people (I know as I have checked with hundreds of them).  This is a crying shame because actually selling is truly an art form when done correctly and professionally.

Many sales people I have encountered can't wait to tell the client about what they have - hell I spent years doing just that when I was a junior sales person many years ago.

We all know that sales people should spend more time finding out about the clients needs but often people believe that clients need their products.

The question we should all ask is why is someone buying our product or service? What does it give them?

Let's consider a house which is for sale and we will call it plot 23. There are three potential buyers:-

1.    Ted who is an investor who wants to buy to rent it out. He aims to make money from the rental and future equity gains.

2.    Mr & Mrs Brown who have another baby on the way and need more space.

3.    Mr & Mrs Jones who want to move to a nice area because they have been frequently broken into with their current location.

The house potentially solves three different scenarios here:-

1.    More money that investing money in a high interest account.

2.    Somewhere to live that feels comfortable

3.    Security (or at least perceived security).

Once the need is understood, the house can be presented appropriately - but regardless of who buys it, the house does not change.

Consider one of your products or services - just one. You will be able to state many reasons for why different buyers could be motivated to purchase, and some of these will be radically different.

So the more we understand about the motivations behind a purchase the better our chances of a sale and these will include good business reasons but also personal reasons such as ease, time, personal likes and dislikes.

So my message is that your products and services work. If they didn't then it is unlikely that you would remain in business. It is also likely that your clients could find other competitive products at roughly the same price to solve their problems. I am not a great beleiver in product differentiation as a deal closer (I do beleive that is gererates interest and then the selling starts).

Often, the things that differentiates one company from another is the approach that client facing personnel have with their customers. So when we are helping to develop our sales delegates we are trying to produce business to business professionals not stereo typical sales people who do product pitches.

Sales people often ask "what will it take for you to buy this product". A better question is "What makes you interested in buying the product?"

When sales poeple understand this, then the real art ounderstanding how clients tick really begins. And when that is done well it truly is an art form.

Mark Jacobs

Comments

[Lisa Griffiths]

Mark, your comments are thought provoking. Like you I meet amazing sales people. Many know their product back to front and inside out(I could write a book on those that don’t!)but product knowledge can be part of their downfall.
Time and time again I review mystery shop evidence of ‘experienced’ sales people telling potential customers all about their product – trouble is they tell different customers exactly the same things – a sales patter. What you are championing is a tailored approach – fantastic.
Part of the problem is that some sales people have forgotten how to listen – they go into autopilot – they know their product, they don’t have to think, and as a consequence they make assumptions about their customers.