Jan 06 2010
Has Professional Selling Undergone A Personality Bypass?
If you are a regular visitor here, you will know that for sometime, I have been increasingly alarmed at the apparent “greyness” within the selling environment.
For greyness, you can also read blandness; or stereotype; or unoriginal; or if there were such a word “samey”.
The assumption by so many young salesmen and women is that every customer is the same and every sale is the same – which of course, simply is not true – and if it were, logic defines that we wouldn’t need those salesmen and women, we could just have the entire sales process handled online by “order takers”.
Along with all this greyness and blandness and “sameyness” I have noticed something else – individual personality has also all but disappeared, to be replaced by an almost robotic- like seriousness.
What happened to warmth? What happened to enthusiasm? What happened to humor?
Let’s just pick up on that last one, humor. If you scroll down for a moment, in the left hand column you will see a logo with something like 24th on it –I seem to have been stuck at 24th for weeks – I challenge you to click on that logo and read any or all of those blogs and please report back to me if you discover one hint, just the vaguest sniff of humor anywhere – you will not, why?
Is it because times have been tough – and actually remain so in many sectors – and we think it is inappropriate to enjoy ourselves? Is it because these days we spend more time communicating with our PC than we do with real human beings and we have lost the art? Or is it now considered uncool to be amusing?
Whatever it is, I am deeply concerned.
You’ve probably heard me say it many times before, but it really is true – people buy people first, and solutions/products/services second.
In most market sectors, product uniqueness is now rare – it never lasted for very long anyway; international barriers have disappeared, almost overnight; thanks to the internet, buyers have never been so well informed and had so many choices.
So in this world that I have just described, where the playing field has never been more level, what is the one distinguishing factor that sellers can use to differentiate themselves – and no, it isn’t Sales 2.0 tools – it is of course, our personality, our personal skills, our unique character.
Yesterday, good chum Jill Konrath – with whom I am usually on the “same length of waves” to quote my French housekeeper, said:
“In 2010, a salesperson’s ability to personally bring value to the relationship will become the primary factor in determining which company wins the business. In a world of minimally differentiated products and services, customers will choose to work with sellers who continually bring them relevant ideas, insights and information. If no salesperson stands out in this area, pricing will become the de facto determinant. ”
This then, is my next tip for improving yourself in 2010 – don’t be afraid to be yourself.
A word that I love is “Salespersonability” – I did not just make that up - in fact I read it somewhere years ago, but it accurately sums up what I have been talking about.
And you know, the most successful people in the business world have it – just think about that for a moment.
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Want to see some great predictions for 2010? All round good egg Nancy Bleeke gathered together some of the best sales brains on the planet, plus me, and asked us what we thought would happen in the next twelve months – catch it all here – Very happy to point you over there despite being called “a British bloke yet all-around collaborative and intelligent chap” I ask you, “yet”???
Tomorrow, I must tell you about Lori Richardson’s forthcoming “50-50-50-50″ tour – sounds like a lot of fun!!
Well Jonathan – ‘samey’ makes a lot of sense! Whether its fear, or lack of confidence or not knowing WHAT or HOW to sell with all the negative press about everything, salespeople are losing themselves!
I’m on a “genuine’ kick – when we follow good process, use effective productivity tools while being ourself – we connect more easily and thus sell more because our prospects will trust us.
When we aim to be someone else or emulate them outside of who we really are (like ‘acting interested’), others feel something ‘isn’t right’ and trust is reduced and the sale cycle increases or fails.
P.S. I looked up ‘bloke’, my reference to you in the Top predictions post, and it says a ‘man who is (usually) old and eccentric’ – but in my mind a bloke is a good old chap – someone fun to be around, and that describes you…even your eccentricities!
There you go again, what’s with the “old”
Jonathan, I feel that samey smells quite gamey…equally shocking to me is the notion of reducing sales to a scorecard because Harvard said to do it. Division of sales labor now has most sales people not doing the selling activities that made one think on their feet and sprinkle a little likeability into the soup. Many sales people do not prospect at all, not a chance to develop the relationship from inception. Kind of reminds me of hunting on a preserve with a guide to tell you where to shoot…where’s the sport in that? Thank you for this food for thought.
This is a great post! I can see that you have put a lot of hard work on your blog. I’m sure I’d visit here more often. You can also drop by our website. It’s mainly about affordable seo services . You might know someone who might be interested. =)
Thank you David – I particularly liked the hunting analogy!!