For many sales people their job has been to conduct regular sales calls to a prescribed number of customers on a daily-weekly-monthly basis. They were a type of route seller who was relied upon by both the company and the customer to make those calls and ensure orders were taken and stocks flowed as required.
The fast moving consumables industries left that model behind some time ago but for many industrial sales people that role still exists today and managers are adamant that is how sales people must conduct themselves to meet customer demands. They believe wholeheartedly that the sales person adds value to the customer through their knowledge and expertise and the customer requires their guidance to make purchases and re-ordering. Their role is to build relationships that generate customer loyalty, brand awareness and of course, orders.
In years gone by, good relationships were considered the key skill of sales people and the carrier of knowledge to the customer. The customers often waited for the sales people as that was often their communication between new products, market changes and competitor activity that would assist them in their business.
The sales people were hired or developed with product knowledge and features and benefits was the catch cry. In later years they started to evolve to solution selling methods but many still struggle with that challenge. Both those profiles may well now be sales people of a by-gone era.
In today's market the customer has many other sources of gathering information thereby replacing the sales person. The challenge now for sales people is "Technology".
In a recent article by David A. Utter, it was reported that 92% of people now Google before making a buying decision. A buyer is able to access enormous amounts of information on products before taking a step toward a potential supplier. There are review sites for products and a plethora of other information sources that gives the buyer a 360 degree view of products and companies before engaging with them. When they do engage, the buyer presents themselves as a highly informed individual (or team) that are well into the purchasing process.
Arguably, the younger the buyer is, the more likely they will also opt for online purchasing where it is available. If they feel satisfied they have sufficient information to make the purchase, they will progress without the need for conversations with sales people. They are internet savvy and it is their preferred method of communication and their ability to source information is excellent. For the minority that are uncomfortable with the internet (and yes, they still exist) the sales person will remain a resource, but that number is shrinking fast.
The sales person needs to do more than have product knowledge, be able to offer the solution, and be a friend. Where he/she can outperform the internet is by being pro-active in learning and understanding the customer's business and delivering products and service that builds value in the customer company. They must be capable of not only building a business case but showing the customers new ways of achieving success within their business. They need to be more than a partner with the company; they need to add tangible value to the process that the customer recognizes.
For some companies that challenge can be difficult. Their products are commodities and they run the risk of sales people blocking sales as customers seek easier and faster methods of purchasing what is seen as a commodity product.
For others where technical information and expertise remain a factor, they must lift their game to the new level required in the market. That is where the internet cannot reach at this time. This is the one area that website are not good at doing. They provide static answers, indications of possible solutions and often you need to read between the lines of marketing or reality. Until the websites mature to that level (although there are algorithms which try hard) the sales person can survive.
The challenges are:
The sales person of the future will possess far greater skills in developing business cases, business understanding, innovation and development of both simple and complex solutions. They will be more educated than an internet user and be capable of guiding an informed buyer to the end of goal of making a sale.
Sales managers will need to alter their thinking if they are going to keep their teams relevant in the market in the future. They need to prepare and develop the team members to meet the challenge head on to succeed.
The fast moving consumables industries left that model behind some time ago but for many industrial sales people that role still exists today and managers are adamant that is how sales people must conduct themselves to meet customer demands. They believe wholeheartedly that the sales person adds value to the customer through their knowledge and expertise and the customer requires their guidance to make purchases and re-ordering. Their role is to build relationships that generate customer loyalty, brand awareness and of course, orders.
In years gone by, good relationships were considered the key skill of sales people and the carrier of knowledge to the customer. The customers often waited for the sales people as that was often their communication between new products, market changes and competitor activity that would assist them in their business.
The sales people were hired or developed with product knowledge and features and benefits was the catch cry. In later years they started to evolve to solution selling methods but many still struggle with that challenge. Both those profiles may well now be sales people of a by-gone era.
In today's market the customer has many other sources of gathering information thereby replacing the sales person. The challenge now for sales people is "Technology".
In a recent article by David A. Utter, it was reported that 92% of people now Google before making a buying decision. A buyer is able to access enormous amounts of information on products before taking a step toward a potential supplier. There are review sites for products and a plethora of other information sources that gives the buyer a 360 degree view of products and companies before engaging with them. When they do engage, the buyer presents themselves as a highly informed individual (or team) that are well into the purchasing process.
Arguably, the younger the buyer is, the more likely they will also opt for online purchasing where it is available. If they feel satisfied they have sufficient information to make the purchase, they will progress without the need for conversations with sales people. They are internet savvy and it is their preferred method of communication and their ability to source information is excellent. For the minority that are uncomfortable with the internet (and yes, they still exist) the sales person will remain a resource, but that number is shrinking fast.
The sales person needs to do more than have product knowledge, be able to offer the solution, and be a friend. Where he/she can outperform the internet is by being pro-active in learning and understanding the customer's business and delivering products and service that builds value in the customer company. They must be capable of not only building a business case but showing the customers new ways of achieving success within their business. They need to be more than a partner with the company; they need to add tangible value to the process that the customer recognizes.
For some companies that challenge can be difficult. Their products are commodities and they run the risk of sales people blocking sales as customers seek easier and faster methods of purchasing what is seen as a commodity product.
For others where technical information and expertise remain a factor, they must lift their game to the new level required in the market. That is where the internet cannot reach at this time. This is the one area that website are not good at doing. They provide static answers, indications of possible solutions and often you need to read between the lines of marketing or reality. Until the websites mature to that level (although there are algorithms which try hard) the sales person can survive.
The challenges are:
- To have product knowledge will no longer support sales people as product knowledge is readily available on the internet.
- To rely on friendships and relationships is a thing of the past as most people now rely on Facebook for their friendships and communication. They often ask for feedback from people regarding products and companies that are deemed a trusted support over and above sales person representations.
- To convey information that is readily available on brochures and internet sites will be deemed a waste of a customer's time.
- To provide technical knowledge that is already set out on the company website (many have enormous libraries of information) will only support the minority of people that don't like reading the manual.
The sales person of the future will possess far greater skills in developing business cases, business understanding, innovation and development of both simple and complex solutions. They will be more educated than an internet user and be capable of guiding an informed buyer to the end of goal of making a sale.
Sales managers will need to alter their thinking if they are going to keep their teams relevant in the market in the future. They need to prepare and develop the team members to meet the challenge head on to succeed.
Adele Crane, is the bestselling author of two titles, "Get Sales Focused" and "Building the Most Effective Sales Force In the World". A world renowned business consultant as Managing Director of Sales Focus International, Adele has over 20 years of experience specializing in cultural change and building high performance sales organizations. Adele now focuses her time on training of sales leaders and teams with her training company Mastering Sales. Adele remains available for some consulting assignments from time to time.
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