BrainTrust Query: Has the Skill Level of Salespeople Decreased?
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Getting Personal About Business, the blog of Zahn Consulting.
Over the years, I have been struck by how much sales training is delivered, and how often it is sub-optimal.
I began in sales training believing that it was incumbent upon the salesperson to uncover needs, identify "pain points" of the prospect or customer, and link product or services to those needs. For years, I worked to refine my skills in honing the ability to zero in on the proper questions to ask; the "bridge to a close," and the sales process methods to "get to Yes," etc.
I would conduct two-day workshops where I would trot out forms, profiles, processes, etc. all designed to reinforce the skills of "best in class" salespeople, all the while believing that the answer to sales success lay in the application of the skills being trained. Skill in rapport was something that was "hired in" as it was not easily trained. Either someone "had it, or not." Sure, we trained people on how to do the steps mechanically (shake hands, make eye contact, look for pictures or trophies in the buyer's office to comment on, etc.), but it did not lead to success.
After speaking with numerous executives, what I think is missing from many traditional ways salespeople are taught today is "the other side of the equation" — the buyer's thoughts; successful approaches to increase receptivity, ways of building mutual or collaborative approaches, etc.. The current "Conceptual Selling" or "Consultative Approaches" are too focused on being fact-based, data-driven, and following a very "Seller-Process focused" approach.
The key skill of relationship building and being trustworthy has been given short-shrift or assumed to be a "given." There needs to be more focus on the very skills that differentiate interacting with a sales person vs. the internet:
- The ability to share the emotion of the sale, not just a talking fact sheet.
- The importance of telling a story and providing context to the benefits of the purchase.
- Developing trust with the company, the sales person, the product/service.
What is needed is enhancement of those skills by identifying them, "codifying" them, and developing those competencies.