Sales people need to evolve with clients or miss out

The modern sales person must walk with the client from contact to purchase and beyond. Photo/FILE  FOTOSEARCH

By John Kageche

In Summary

• Evolve or die is the new motto especially for the salesperson.

In this fast-changing corporate world where retrenchments have become commonplace, there is one job that time will not disappear — that of a salesperson.

Whatever was and will be made must be sold by someone. Bill Gates once said that if he was down to his last dollar he would invest it in marketing. It follows, therefore, that sales is the one job that will forever remain secure.

This must be refreshing news to any salesperson. A disclaimer follows — institutions will only hire and retain people for as long as they are relevant to the employer and market.

From discussions on training-needs analysis with employers and clients, we have distilled several facets of what is expected of a salesperson.

We share three.

Sales is not a desk job. In that sense it is not a formal job with laid-down rules and regulations, on working hours for instance.

There may be guidelines yes, but the successful salesperson runs his/her own show largely. And because of this, he/she must see the business as his own.

Successful businesspeople always hold the long-term view to business and seek win-win relationships. Their objective is retention as they have learnt it is more profitable and cost efficient to retain and grow with a client rather than the hit-and-run so common with the transactional salesperson.

They also know that their clients are more likely to refer more business to them this way, thereby reducing their marketing costs.

The modern salesperson must walk with the client from contact to purchase and beyond. Courtesy calls were meant for this but in this day and age, they are reactive ways of dealing with the client.

The client expects you to notify them that the cheque is about to bounce so they can fund their account. They expect their hand to be held through a claim process for insurance; to be advised on the new product you just launched and how it benefits them... they need to know you are there for them not the other way round.

The salesperson is expected to see himself as a consultant. Though a consultant only empathises, a reputable one genuinely seeks to understand the business of the client with a view to seeking a point of synergy between his product and the client’s needs.

This comes as a natural progression, not a must-do-because-I-have-no-option decision. For instance, the prospect will feel much more rewarded when, having asked for a bank loan, the salesperson advises that based on needs, perhaps a credit card would be of benefit.

The salesperson then goes ahead to explain why and in the discussion that follows, the prospect agrees with the salesperson; or, new information comes to the fore and the salesperson agrees with the prospect; or, both realise that neither card nor loan will do but a bank guarantee is. Win-win. The modern salesperson becomes a consultant and offers a solution as opposed to selling a product.

Selling is a profession: Unfortunately, many salespeople don’t see it this way. I couldn’t find a job so I decided to sell, you may have heard it said. Such an attitude must change with the dynamic salesperson.

As a profession it puts it on the same pedestal as doctor, architect, lawyer or chef. And these professionals listen keenly to the client, ask relevant questions along the way while jotting down notes and, in the case of the doctor, examine the patient and then, and only then, prescribe.

As a consultant, the client or prospect expects you will be sufficiently professional to be confided in and to admit if your product is limited in a particular regard, you will refer them to someone who can assist. You become so professional and long term to the point of consciously losing a sale.

A client once told me of a time he swiped his card on Amazon.com to buy a book only to get an instant message advising him that he had already bought the book a few years back and to confirm if he wanted to buy it again. My DVD seller gives me a movie he thinks I will like and tells me to pay only if I like it.

Evolve or die is the new motto especially for the salesperson.

 

Mr Kageche is a lead facilitator at Lend Me Your Ears, a speech writing and sales coach