Never forget – you’re in SALES
24 Jul 2009
I mention this because, over the last few months, I’ve been accompanying many salespeople on visits for two of my clients and what has horrified me most is the failure of so many to appear reluctant to ask for the business (close the sale).
I remember very well when I was given my first ever business cards. I was so very proud to have them and sat and admired them for some time. It had the name and address of my company, my name, and underneath my name the single word ‘Sales’. I knew what my job was and so did my prospects. A few years later, whilst working with another company, my title was changed and my card bore the title Sales Executive. With the benefit of hindsight, it is quite obvious why the company changed my title. It gave me more prestige (not more money) and therefore made me feel better about myself. It also made the potential customer feel they were dealing with someone more important – an Executive rather than a Salesman. A few years later, and around the time that consultative selling became more fashionable, it became the norm for the title ‘Sales Executive’ to be replaced with the title ‘Sales Consultant’ and soon after that the word sales was dropped by many companies. In my case I became a Financial Consultant. In my opinion, the moment the word ‘consultant’ was introduced into the salesperson’s title was the moment the rot set in! Salespeople stopped selling and became consultants and, as you well know, we do not get paid for consulting; we get paid for selling.
To be really clear - I have always believed in the consultative style of selling. I’ve just never believed in going around doing a lot of unpaid consulting.