GlobalBX

I can’t imagine that you have ever had a doctor say to you ‘would you like me to check your blood pressure?’…and of course the reason for this is that the doctor knows what his job is and he gets on with it. If you have a job to do and that job is designed to create positive results for people, then you shouldn’t have to ask permission to do your job! Many years ago, prior to self-service petrol stations, there were three types of ‘attendants’. One would ask you what you wanted and whatever you asked for would be done. The second type would ask the same question and then ask if you wanted the oil checking too, and if you said ‘no’ then you would just get what you said you wanted. The third type would ask what you wanted and would then ask you to open the bonnet so that he could check the oil for you. Only the third type of attendant had a better defined job and he didn’t ask permission to do what he had to do for you. In my role as a conference speaker I ensure that what I’m going to speak about is going to be relevant and valuable…and then I get on with doing my job, as opposed to having people tell me what I should talk about.

Where do you stand on this issue, as a sales person or as a manager entrusted with leading sales people? If you are serious about the subject, here is how to define, learn, sell and do the best possible job in professional selling:

DEFINING THE JOB…involves starting with a goal that is unknown to most organizations. That goal concerns the ‘improving results’ that must be achieved for and with the customer…on an ongoing basis. Every organization equips staff with ‘sales budgets’ but if this is all they possess they will become predators or beggars. The customer goal must not be an exercise in rhetoric; it must be a clear promise concerning new business opportunities, supported by process and strategy to convert opportunities into ‘new results’. This goal is the most important for the sales person and without it he or she is utterly lost and vulnerable to rejection by the market.

The other two goals for sales people to strive for are the company ‘budget’ and their own aspirations to improve earnings and lifestyle…and the achievement of both these targets are dependent on reaching the customer goal!

LEARNING THE JOB…involves knowing what customers need (in business performance improvement) and accepting that they don’t know what they need…because they are not experts on how to maximise results with the products you sell. This area of preparation also entails knowing that better results have been achieved by certain customers, which enables sales people to move with confidence when finding and achieving customer progress goals. Understanding ‘need’ and ‘evidence of success’ are critical elements of the modern selling job, and without them sales people are condemned to marketing mediocrity.

SELLING THE JOB…involves motivating and educating customers and prospects to expect more from you than they would from rival suppliers…including the incumbents. Regrettably, the market has come to expect very little from sales people, beyond talking about ‘our product’ and ‘our service’…all of which is obviously aimed at achieving ‘our budget’. To sell a higher form of sales engagement it is vital to make it clear from the start that you are not about to embark on ‘our story’…and then focus your attention on ‘their story’ and your promise to assist in that area.

DOING THE JOB…involves leading customers and prospects to do what you need them to do, so that you both come face to face with opportunities, new goals and radical ideas to achieve attractive progress…together! If the customer leads, you are not doing your job, and so a simple way to take the lead is to give the customer a succinct ‘agenda’, outlining what you want to cover…and then go through each point until your job is done.

The aim for sales people is not to get a better job, it is to do a better job…and when you do a better job…you have then got a better job!