Streamline Training & Documentation: Professionalism in Sales

Monday, June 26, 2006

Professionalism in Sales

Ever on the lookout for good news, I was struck by a headline reading “Death of a Pushy Salesman” in the July 3 issue of Business Week.

The article opens with a tale of woe. A salesman caught in the aftermath of the burst tech bubble finds that customers have no time for him. He’s talking a lot, and not listening well.

But our stalwart salesperson reforms. He accepts that he’s going to be dealing with a longer sales cycle. He gives the customer more airtime and listens to what the customer is saying, without interrupting compulsively with snippets of his sales pitch.

The salesperson in question is one of 1,100 who works for Altera, a chip manufacturer, that has invested $11 million since 2002 in revamped sales training — four weeks’ worth for each salesperson in his or her first year.

The emphasis is on building relationships with customers by being empathetic to their situations, feelings, and motives, as opposed to trying to win favor by swamping them with explanations of technical features beloved of engineers, but seldom with obvious relevance to a particular company’s business needs.

Here’s the best practice crib sheet:

Set the stage — Use assessments, such as 360º reviews, to help salespeople gain insight into themselves from which they can intuit insights into others. Form sales teams that have a diversity of personal styles to help employees develop skills for interacting well with different types of customers.

Let the customer speak first — The only way to direct a sales pitch in a relevant direction is to know what the customer cares about and needs. Listening to what the customer says and noting problems and issues the customer is facing are prerequisites for knowing what to talk about when it comes time to offer your own company’s help.

Accommodate the customer’s style — Some customers are “just the facts” types. Others are “let’s get to know each other” types. Others are “let me tell you what I need you to do” types. The list goes on. The point is that the salesperson needs to keep the conversation comfortable, and that requires being sensitive to how the customer likes to talk and relate.

Maintain your customer relationships — By definition, having a solid customer relationship means taking concrete actions to stay in tune with the customer’s situation and preferences. For instance, matching sales team members with peers at the customer is a powerful way of enabling regular productive contact.

Ongoing reinforcement of professional sales skills and continuing professional development are essential. I.e., everybody needs continuing training and development activities. Development planning is the best mechanism for ensuring continuing growth in knowledge and skill.

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Labels: Employee development, Professionalism

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