This article discusses the evolution of sales. When sales are soft, it’s easy to blame lackluster sales performance on a weak economy, fickle customers, or an ineffective sales team. But the reality might be that you’re selling the same way you always have. The world has changed…have you?
Effective Sales & Ethics Can Go Hand in Hand
By Tim Moore
Published by Business Leader Magazine
Here’s something you likely never thought you’d hear from a salesperson, especially someone who has spent his entire life in sales: It is OK to be honest and ethical when you are selling.
Contrary to popular belief, salespeople don’t have to manipulate, trick or pressure anyone into purchasing something. To be truly successful, it is not about how many calls you make each day or how many doors you knock on each week. What truly is important is to build deep, honest, long-lasting relationships with clients.
When times become difficult and sales are soft, we often blame lackluster sales performance on a weak economy, fickle customers, or an ineffective sales team. But the reality might be that you’re selling the same way you always have. Just because a method worked in the past does not mean that it will always work. Today, traditional and consultative selling methods are more likely to have prospects running away than clamoring to purchase what you’re offering.
A brief history
When talking with more seasoned sales professionals, they often recall the “good old days” before the mid-1970s, when buyers relied on salespeople to determine what was occurring in the marketplace, what their competitors were doing, and what options they had to increase market share. Product and service information often was controlled by the seller. It was easy in this environment for the seller to exert control and pressure.
So what changed? Over time, buyers’ trust was misused by unethical salespeople, and their high-pressure tactics wore thin with buyers. At the same time, buyers gained more control of their environment as the world rapidly advanced into the information age, where technology had begun to level the playing field between buyer and seller.
During the early 1980s, the concept of consultative selling approaches were developed by salespeople under the guise of several terms, including consultative selling, Xerox selling, assistant-buyer selling and counselor selling, among others.
The premise behind these models softened the seamier side of selling. Under these new methods, instead of projecting the unwanted image of a manipulative pressuring salesperson, the seller was trained to understand the wants and needs of the buyer so that he or she could become the problem-solver with the right solution.
However, this problem-solving approach presented a particular rub between buyer and seller. In a vast majority of cases, the salesperson was trained to ask only the questions that positioned him or her for the sale. While the pressure and techniques weren’t as distasteful or overt as the traditional selling methods previously used, they still existed.
Changing times
While traditional and consultative methods still work in certain selling situations, it is becoming increasingly clear that their effectiveness is waning. Over the past five years, the emerging power and accessibility of information on the Web finally has tipped the scales of power to the buyer. Today, buyers demand more from their relationships with salespeople.
To build lasting client relationships, the arsenal of sales tricks, gimmicks and closing techniques must be eliminated. The sales process must be transformed to a no-pressure exchange where the goal is getting to the truth vs. getting to the sale.
While getting the sale and having aggressive growth goals are important, the way in which salespeople increase revenue and interact with buyers must change. It requires a different mindset, not only for the salesperson but also for management. It also requires that companies commit to doing what is right and acting with integrity, even when it’s easy or tempting not to do so.
With traditional and consultative selling, it’s all about the chase. Today, it’s all about the relationship. The salesperson who builds a client base on relationships will spend less time prospecting and more time attracting qualified and interested buyers.
Take time to build strong foundations for long-lasting relationships with clients. They’ll appreciate your sincerity and integrity, and will reward you for your efforts.
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Tim Moore is Principle and Owner of the Dancing Elephants Achievement Group of the Carolinas. His mission is to show entrepreneurs and salespeople how to make more money in less time than they ever thought possible. Tim fills his days with teaching classes, private coaching and making presentations around the country. For more information, visit www.saleselephant.com or send an email to Tim@deagsales.com .
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The Dancing Elephants team provided an excellent custom program for our management team at Capital Style that really hit home with us. We look forward to follow up sessions to continue to build our sales culture in our company.