Myths and legends associated with selling, date back generations. We find their origins shrouded in the unsavory tactics and sly, deal-making prowess of the East European Gypsy. Closer to home we have the morally derelict travelling snake-oil salesmen … the obnoxious midway barkers … and the slick, manipulative used car and door-to-door salesmen of yesteryear. These icons of selling lore have each contributed to what we think of, and how we react to, selling and salespeople today … the people we all prefer to avoid. The irony is … we hire them for the same reasons we avoid them.
A business owner in Winnipeg said to me just yesterday, ‘We want our salespeople to go out and convince companies they have a need for our leasing services.’ When was the last time you enjoyed having any salesperson try to convince you of anything? And yet we consistently believe we should fill our sales positions with convincers … cleverly self-absorbed, quota driven extroverts … mercenary, hungry and desperate. The ideal selling candidate today is still someone willing to work for nothing until commissions from closed sales are earned.
We as business leaders have a choice; we can continue to frustrate potential buyers by employing transient convincers and selling tactics target audiences avoid … or … we can employ salespeople and selling principles our target audiences can’t live without … salespeople they trust, depend on, respect, admire and eagerly welcome into their homes and offices? What if those salespeople worked for your company? They are out there. Here is how to find, hire and keep them.
‘Find, Hire & Keep Talented Salespeople’ (Part 2) available on the Tangent Strategies blog.