Responding to my post yesterday – “Have We Been Witnessing The Death Of Professional Selling?”   Todd Youngblood wrote ..

Hi Jonathan

I agree with you that the death of traditional professional selling is inevitable. Three years also seems like the correct time frame.

The smart sales pros will be all over this fact and furiously building their own electronic presence. They’ll be determined to dump every shred of knowledge and insight they have and are acquiring into some electronic form, then freely sharing it as far and wide as possible.

Those who do will not only survive, but thrive. Those who don’t will wonder why their commission checks disappeared.

Would love to get your perspective how a sales rep should go about creating his or her electronic alter ego.

To which I responded ….

Hi Todd,

Well to begin with, I love that expression – “Electronic Alter Egos” – and maybe you are right, in the short term, that is where they will concentrate their efforts.

But logically, if all selling eventually goes online, will we need frontline salespeople at all? It will be PC to PC (iphone to iphone?); no human contact or communication; a buyer’s criteria fed into a requirements section, with a solution coming out the other end?

My personal view, is that marketing is about to claim the high ground in most B2B scenarios. They will take responsibility for not only lead generation, but also “presentation” That is quality of web-site design, functionality, and performance. This is the first point of contact now for all those “crazy, busy buyers” (Mrs Konrath) who have already made up their minds, and just want to place an order.

After that, new teams will be created to build brick walls around existing customers – pro-active customer care teams. This is what Sales 3.0 is all about.

Technical support functions will also continue to grow in importance, to support the other two areas, because customers want instant fixes and reliable back-up.

Finally, those salespeople who remain, will become genuine “business consultants, strategic orchestrators and long-term allies”
The 2015 sales professional will not only be an industry expert, but also have a solid grasp of commercial issues, and as a consequence, they will speak the language – no selling involved!

At the moment, it is my perception that only 5% of the selling population fall into this category, but within five years, faced with possible extinction, a further 15% will step up, rather than perish.

It’s only a view! But it is a much considered view.

And it seems that this view is also shared by Jeb Brooks of The Brooks Group, who posted this yesterday on his blog:

In today’s super-modern, fast-paced, non-stop world, how easily can a sales professional move from one complex sales environment to another?

The answer, I think, depends on how much the salesperson is willing to learn. How quickly he can consume (and retain) information. In a Sales 2.0 where prospects and customers often know as much or more than salespeople, buyers are really looking for experts.

So…could your average, talented “I-Can-Sell-Anything-Salesperson” sell…
• Wine;
• Airplanes;
• ERP Systems;
• Organic Food;
• Book Contracts;
• Commercial Presses; AND
• Thoroughbred Horses?

No, the average salesperson could not.

The debate continues …..

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