Is the Sales Profession Dying?
Doyle Slayton | Mar 07, 2010 | Comments 16
Is the Sales Profession Dying? No… You are just listening to the wrong people!
I recently attended a sales and marketing conference. During one presentation, the focus turned to “Closing Techniques.” The presenter shared word-for-word scripts that would lead the prospect to “YES!”
Inevitably, someone in the back raised their hand and said, “That type of approach would put me off,” to which the speaker responded, “It’s a little edgy. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.”
I wanted to raise my hand and remind the “sales sniper” that the speaker was teaching us techniques that have helped him achieve a 75% closing rate! When someone tells me they close three out of four deals, I focus my attention on taking notes… not on being “put off!”
The audience member’s reaction reminds me of the things I hear people talking about…
“People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.”
“Be careful not to make your prospect feel like choosing their current vendor/product was a bad idea. You might insult them.”
Selling is all about building “relationships,” and we need to “nurture” our leads.
I could go on an on with this list, but it would be ridiculously unproductive. It’s not that these ideas aren’t valid, it’s just that they promote a weakening of the sales mind. Nurture is a great word for my marketing team, but as sales person… it makes me want to throw up!
Why do some folks think sales people can’t do both… be extremely professional AND hard-core? It’s no wonder so many sales people are often passive, board to death, and failing quota.
There are thousands of great sales people who are laughing in the face of weakness and closing more deals than anyone else. They practice the art and skill of… SELLING!
Stop feeling the pressure to “be careful” and tiptoe around the sale. Take off the straight jacket. Go out there and be a hunter, closer… WARRIOR!
Great article! My husband I teach people how to build relationships by sending cards. After meeting a great prospect send a heartfelt greeting card. Mention details from your interaction. Putting content specific to your conversation puts you and your business on the top of their mind long after the meeting has come and gone.
Doyle,
I get the point your trying to make in your view about the relationship nurturing stuff “weakening of the sales mind”. But I don’t necessarily agree with you. There are an awful lot of sales situations out there and there is a winning sales strategy for everyone one of them. Being a “warrior” and in certain situations doesn’t work and being a weak livered socialite in others doesn’t work.
A sales professional should be able to adapt to the situation – should be able to have the closing ears on from the get go – and be able to read people and the situation well enough to know which strategy to pull out of the bag and advance the process closer to or to the close.
To my mind, to say one method as being weak and straight jacketed and another as being a hunter, closer or warrior is implying that there is only one strategy to deploy in all sales situation. WRONG!
I know you may think you have to rev people up and provide positive, go get ‘em type input – but frankly I was expecting more from a Sales Leader & Strategist.
Selling is not dead. It is a profession. It is the engine room of all businesses. It therefore can never die.
I really like your article, you make the point that we need to be assertive in closing the deal. Too often, we let the prospect control the transaction and we end up as unpaid consultants.
Nevertheless, many “high pressure” closers fail to consider the life time value of a customer and leave a lot of good money on the table as a result. By developing relationship selling skills, the professional seller is sewing the seeds of more profitable business in the future.
Regards,
Tom
People are crazy, especially us adults. Somehow many of us think we know it all already, or worse, assume we are supposed to know it all in sales. BS.
The best thing I did in my career many years ago was to commit to being a student in sales for ever. To always be up for learning. The comment that the audience member made was simply saying, that they were not open to education, or a new technique. Even with the evidence of 75% closes.
My advice, BE OPEN, and ALWAYS be learning. It is more fun that way.
Good post Doyle. May I ask who the speaker was?
I don’t believe the sales profession is dying but it has changed. Take Amazon.com for example. You no longer need a salesperson for all purchases, including some big ticket items.
Of course, sales will only die when buying dies. I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Best regards,
Emanuel R. Carpenter
Author of “Six-Figure Cold Calling”
http://www.cold-call-selling.com
Hi Emanuel,
The speaker’s name is Landy Chase.
You can find him at http://landychase.com/
He’s solid!
Doyle
Your post reminds me of an internal mantra used by Amazon: “If you DON’T listen to your customers, you will fail. If you ONLY listen to your customers, you will fail.”
Success almost always involves balance. There are selling situations that will require that you be assertive, and situations where you will need to be more reserved to close it. The holy grail of the “secret closing technique” is in being perceptive enough and listening hard enough to know whether to be a warrior or a peacemaker.
Good stuff, Doyle! I agree completely with everything, and can suggest only one qualifier to it that I think may have been overlooked:
When talking about building relationships–I would suggest this be slightly reworded to focus the recommendation to build relationships, on points of activity aimed at generating REPEAT sales.
Real relationship building effort always begins AFTER the sale is made, and thinking that it needs to be part of every pipeline contact is what will often tip a salesperson’s scales to an UNproductive level.
You are right on-target with your message and I would only hope that those who are hat in hand and tail between their legs will read it and be inspired to consider that their current moping around and wallowing in the economic mire is a CHOICE.
Thanks again for a super subject! Best – Hal
Terrific post, Doyle. It’s awfully easy to succumb to the comfort and attraction of “touchy feely” selling, but it’s also very expensive.
Hank
Right on Doyle. There is nothing wrong with a little push. Some people do not want to buy, they want to be sold. Add that to your list. I tell people “yes” is the best answer, “no” is the 2nd best, and I will think about it or maybe just stinks. The first thing I ask sales people why someone is buying from you they will say relationship. Many salespeople stop there and consequently do not ask for new business, or look for the low hanging fruit, because they do not want to disrupt the relationship. Ridiculous.
Thanks, Doyle! I think people need to use the information by adding it to their toolbox and using it in a way that fits their style. Everything doesn’t work for everyone and every industry; however, if we don’t learn new techniques, we will go nowhere. Everyone must be open to change. If it doesn’t work for you, find something that does.
Hi Doyle.
Interesting post and discussion. A lot of valid points. Even if I did not agree with everything the speaker said, I would closely listen to A SPEAKER WITH A 75% CLOSURE RATIO. THAT IS PHENOMENAL!! I would take out the tidbits that I could use.
Mark Secko
Barcode Application Solutions
Hi Doyle,
I always enjoy reading your blogs and appreciate your passion for and understanding of sales. I believe I am “hard core” on skill, process, and closing but I too was put off by the idea of a “word for word script” that the speaker recommended for closing.
Scripts (Of course, I would like to have heard specifics of the speaker’s scripts but I have never agreed with sales scripts [with the exception of what to say when a customer says your price is too high i.e. “What are you comparing us to?”]) because scripts are not in the moment. They are one-sided/prepackaged and devoid of integration of the customer’s needs, priorities, and language. Unless you can create the full script including what the customer’s responses will be they lack the tailoring needed to be persuasive particularly with today’s informed customer, especially when more complex solutions are involved.
Need focus, great listening and questioning skills, a tailored solution, and closing know-how (know your objective, get feedback throughout, ask for the business or next step, give a second effort) and drive are what I have found it takes to close. There may have been good skills and strategies embedded in the scripts but generic words bury impact. Scripts are rote. Sales is not.
Best,
Linda Richardson
Please keep teaching stuff like this. You are filling my pockets. I can’t tell you how many deals I win because prospects can’t stand the “tough guy” arragant approach. I’m happy to be a “weak-minded” sales person, as long as I’m winning deals from the “tough-minded” sales person. Bring it on. Thank you and please keep it up.
Doyle:
I get your main point that selling skills are important to being successful, as it is in any professional trade. And I get that the selling profession is not dead. But I am getting weary of the predatory language typically used in selling. Having a focus on selling skills and maintaining a hunger for the sale is OK, but seriously:
Me, warrior, means customer = adversary
Me, hunter, means customer = prey
Me, closer, means customer = needs to be “closed” or “persuaded against their will”
I think connotations matter.
While I agree that we don’t need to get too caught up in pop-psychology, touch-feely gimmicks at the OTHER end of the continuum, I don’t think it is the death of the profession to consider raising the bar a bit for the profession.
I had between 40 – 60% close rate (yes, it varied sometimes) without having to resort to viewing the customer with anything other than the same type of respect that I would want.
You don’t have to resort to faded old cheesy selling “techniques” to remain active, aggressive toward your goals, energized, and totally sold out to your profession and to building your sales.
I can sense your resistance to the watering down of sales effectiveness by being too passive, and I share that disdain. But I don’t believe that taking the high road is necessary just trying to be a “nice guy,” nor is it wearing a straight-jacket.
Finally, in defense of the “sales sniper,” he wasn’t in the proper forum to say fully what he meant, so I suspect he just tried to find the fewest words possible to articulate a bigger idea: Many CUSTOMERs would be put-off by that because it would be a very transparent effort to manipulate them into a sale instead of inspiring a genuine desire to buy. He may have been suggesting that these “closing techniques” may not be as effective nowadays as they once were.
A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
Doyle,
I agree with the sentiment you express: knowing how to close is important.
But using the “warrior” language implies there is a winner and loser.
In my opinion, when this is all done correctly there are two winners, as both the buyer and the seller walk away happy.
The only loser is the potential buyer who needs and can afford a product or service but does not get it because the sales person was not skilled enough to midwife the transaction.