Sales managers have various ways of pushing their lieutenants to work;
some even call spouses to set goals for their partners. FILE
By Peter Kageche
What’s in it for me? That’s what the salesperson
who wants to progress must ask if he is to succeed in selling,
especially at the beginning of the year.
Here’s why? Sales is not a desk job, this column
has repeatedly averred. Systems and structure for reporting is something
the salesperson may be given but execution is unique to the individual.
The dynamism of the profession and the heightened
human interaction in it deems it so. The downside of this dynamism
manifests itself in continual rejection, unending pressure to deliver
numbers, lies by prospects, being continuously on the run and long dry
spells of no deals. For the uninitiated, these occurrences are common
place in sales.
Just reading about them can weigh you down. How
much more then experiencing them? Small wonder then, that selling is the
job with the highest professional casualties.
Unlike a desk job where one can push pen and paper
and get by, the same cannot be said of selling; getting by gets you out
pretty fast — either by the emotional weight of the job crushing you or
the employer reaching the end of his emotional tether.
It is for this reason that to pull through one
must have a selfish reason for doing so. It is for this reason that
progressive sales managers will tie commission payments to a tangible
item the salesperson can aim for.
I knew a manager who would pointedly ask the fresh
recruit what he wanted; for many (as they were just starting off in
life) it was a TV set. He would then zero down on the make and size of
the set.
Once that was settled upon he would take the
salesperson to an electronics shop and they would both identify the set,
its cost and leave there with a photo and when the TV set would be
bought.
The manager would drum acquisition of the TV set
as the basis of why the salesperson must overcome the temptation to
yield to rejection, the pressure for numbers, the lies and the long dry
spells.
It was a much more successful gambit than driving the sole agenda of “you must meet your targets otherwise we can’t keep you”.
Two things drive the selfish reason — the stage in
life and his personality. For the latter, the selfish reason could be
the fulfilment he gets when thriving in the limelight of recognition;
for instance, the applause he gets as the Salesperson of the Month or
Year.
For the former, I know of another sales manager
who called in the wife of his most promising lieutenant and told the
wife that her house would get a complete makeover if her husband
delivered the targets.
The hapless fellow never knew where to hide —the
pressure for numbers was more intense at home than at work; suffice to
say, the house was made over at the end of the year.
Naturally, the selfish reason must emanate from
the salesperson and is not static as he passes through different stages
in life. It could be dowry today and a promotion tomorrow; building a
house today and rent tomorrow; a flat screen digital TV today and home
make-over tomorrow.
To progress in the profession, one must have a
selfish reason for doing the job and it helps the manager effectively do
his, if he knows this reason. Knowing why one is selling places him
ahead of the negative energy that will manifest in his duties.
No comments :
Post a Comment