Selling is one of the most essential business professions on Earth. Yet we hold the profession and the men and women who do the selling, in such low regard. That low regard increases per sale costs and lowers per sale profits. It makes companies less competitive. It limits corporate and economic growth. And it wastes disgusting amounts of time.
In this series of 4 articles we will explore this phenomenon of traditional selling. Its roots, and the selling enlightenment that can take companies from the revenue they currently generate to income levels that are, at the moment, out of reach to those who sell traditionally.
So what is it about selling that consistently limits companies of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to publicly traded, Fortune 500 companies? Basically it’s their belief, consumption and application of the myths, legends and fairytales about selling. For example.
There are countless employers who still believe that salespeople perform best when kept desperate and hungry, rewarded like trained animals, only when they perform. The reward, called commission, is paid instead of a living wage, the kind of remuneration the rest of the civilized world seems to function quite well on. It stands to reason salespeople treated this way literally become bounty hunters. Their so-called employers don’t realize that their bounty hunters chase away more buyers than they attract. They trigger fight or flight responses from most buyers.
Let’s face it, when approached by a salesperson we all seek escape with practiced lines like: “Just looking.” “Not interested.” and “Let me think about it.” Or we hide behind gate-keepers, No Soliciting signs and Canada’s infamous CASL, The Canadian Anti Spam Legislation.
One would think that after generations of buyer avoidance and rejection, the selling profession would have corrected itself, evolved from jungle-law to the refined professionalism buyers warmly welcome.
Why should we care?
Well, every year literally tens of millions of collective buyer and seller man-hours are lost to buyers avoiding and rejecting salespeople … and salespeople trying their best to get their attention again. TIME is humanity’s most precious, non-renewable resource. Once lost it can never be reclaimed or regenerated. Avoidance and rejection, what a colossal and irresponsible waste. And if, as Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Time is money.’ Well, you do the math. These monumental losses are still viewed as costs of doing business. Seriously ???? !!!! Where in anyone’s MBA studies is it taught to frighten away ones potential customers?
Why should any company be satisfied with its current levels of revenue when it could be earning so much more with higher per sale profits? Watch for our next instalment of …. The New Salespeople.