Back to Articles PDF Version "The #1 mistake salespeople make and the #1 thing you can do starting today to move from being a totally stressed out quota-slave to a totally relaxed revenue generating machine"
The single biggest mistake salespeople make is thinking, and acting like they are 'sales' people.
The weekly meeting is over. If you're a salesperson, sales manager or corporate executive and find yourself shaking your head in disbelief, rubbing that high point on the bridge of your nose with eyes closed (even though you don't wear glasses), rubbing the back of your neck or rushing off to the restroom to splash some cold water on your face... you need help.
A quick search on keywords shows that sales performance ranks higher in Google and Yahoo searches than sales training or coaching—a serious reversal from just two years ago.
The single biggest mistake salespeople make is thinking, and acting like they are 'sales' people. The problem with being a 'sales' person or manager of 'sales' people is that you're expected to sell. If this sounds stupid, let me explain...
What's a 'sales' person do? Most professionals spend 80% of their time staggering through administration, reporting and record-keeping activity to quantify and justify to senior management where you are performing and forecasting against quota so they can decide whether you are meeting the 'standards' the executive oracles have delivered from on high so you can keep your job and paycheck for another quarter (whew, that was a lot of stress with serious misdirecting of physical and emotional resources)... You go out and try to sell... anything.
And at the end of day you're exhausted, angry and probably taking phone calls during dinner or your kid’s soccer game-- if you made it home.
Make Their Eyes Get Wide with Interest…
So let me ask, what do you tell people you do when they ask? Do you tell them you're a salesperson for XYZ Corporation? Do you have a handful of fancier descriptions you use that mean pretty much the same thing? Descriptions like: "sales executive", "sales consultant", "account executive", "and marketing consultant".
Sure, those are common job descriptions you think everyone should understand. But did it tell them what you do?
Did their eyebrows arch, eyes grow wide with interest? Or did their faces glaze over and they suddenly remembered appointments, or moved on to the next guest.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you're a 'sales' person, have your resume at the ready. You never know when someone will decide you're expendable because they tend to see your job based on the 80% administration and reporting.
Sales is a great profession. But it's not what you do and it's not how you consistently and profitably build revenue. The Sales Professional (that's professional with a capital "P") knows they are not 'sales' people and they don't act like 'sales' people no matter how hard management pushes in that dead-end direction.
The next time someone asks what you do, including your boss, tell them "I <insert the problem you solve here using specific results if you have them and they are appropriate> in the 'ABC' industry."
For example:
Bad: "I sell B2B services."
Better: "I help companies increase new business sales using low-cost marketing methods."
Even Better: "I provide companies with the tools, methods and training to consistently grow sales. In the small business market several companies I work with have experienced a 24% in the past six months."
There are lots of variations on the above-- but you get the idea. You're not a salesperson.
You are a problem solver with solutions that get specific results.
What does the Professional Know that I Don’t?
And that IS the difference between a sales person and a sales professional.
The Professional understands enough about the customer's needs, wants and pains to be a trusted consultant.
Don't worry. They'll still know you're a sales representative. They get it.
They just want to do business with someone else who gets it.
It's okay (wink). We both know you're still selling.
Be The Hero,
Mark Mark Daniels is a B2B and B2C Business Marketing and Sales Consultant, Coach, Author and Speaker specializing in creating calls-to-action that generate leads, shorten sales cycle times, increase top line sales and bottom line margins.
Reach Mark at Mark@mysaleshero.net
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