Sales – the poor relation?
Here at Sales Engine, we get a bee in our collective bonnets over many people’s view of sales.
For a profession that relies heavily on first impressions and perception, sales has remarkably bad PR. Up until the recent banking crisis, the archetypal villain in sitcoms, radio phone-ins and dinner conversation was the poor old estate agent. And what is an estate agent if not simply a residential niche orientated/vertical sector specialist consultant? Or for those willing to cut through business speak, a salesperson.
When you come to think of it, the oft quoted list of estate agent insults could so easily be aimed at the archetypal salesperson. The fancy cars (must be making up for something elsewhere), the expensive suits (being able to combine expense with an alarming lack of class) and the inability to think beyond the next order (greed is good, right?).
Like we say, the sales profession has suffered from very bad PR.
We’d counter this by highlighting the fact that the sales role is like no other in that the objective is alarmingly clear and measurable – deliver against agreed targets. Make no bones about it - these results have a bigger impact on your business than any other department. If sales start failing, tough times for the company are undoubtedly just around the corner…
Yet time and time again, we hear of businesses reluctant to invest in the very team that delivers these results. It defies logic! Often the issue lies in a business’s view of the sales process:
- A common view is “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. This leads to stale teams, tired propositions and ultimately missed targets.
- At the other end of the scale is “flavour of the month” sales training and support. This leads to a bewildered sales team who eventually become wary and sometimes downright dismissive of any well intentioned innovations pointed in their direction. Symptoms of this are easy to spot – inconsistent presentations, the rise of the fabled “maverick salesman” and a confused customer base. We’ve seen them all.
We believe that as a function (and, what the heck, an honourable profession), sales deserves better. It deserves the opportunity to demonstrate it’s professionalism through well managed bid processes, support it’s people through structured coaching programmes and work with the finest sales tools available.
In short, it deserves a company like Sales Engine.
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