Successful sales managers efficiently midwife the being process because
they know it inevitably delivers success in the doing. PHOTO | BD
GRAPHIC
By JOHN KAGECHE
In Summary
You’ve changed. These words are the ultimate
validation for the salesperson set to take off. Regrettably, they are
words few salespeople get to hear.
You see, there’s a mental, emotional and physical cost
associated with becoming a salesperson and few are willing to pay it
because it dislodges them from them.
Those that weather the storm sell themselves to the
sustainable emotional and mental process of being, and not the
unsustainable physical arrival of the result (doing). Successful selling
is about being, not doing. Here are three examples.
When an institution (say a bank) negotiates to have
a sales desk at a premises (say of a large employer), pride won’t let
the ‘doing’ salesperson reach out to the staff or woo them over.
He will instead reason: “They have been told there
is a sales desk at their premises. If they don’t want to come over and
register or buy, that’s their problem.”
When a pride-powered salesperson is given a lead by
his boss, he expects the lead to automatically keel over; likewise when
he has pitched only once.
And why? “I can’t be seen to be following him up
like a dog (or asking for the cheque).” Pride is debilitating in sales.
Yet it’s not pride, it’s hubris (foolish pride). The kind that leads to
complaining that, “Juma stole my sale.” Of course, he did.
You warmed up the prospect and left him hanging;
Juma was hungry enough to follow up to the close. Being means learning
how to stoop to conquer (humility) but not stooping to be kicked on the
backside as hubris assumes.
Painful rejection
Rejection is painful. Make no mistake about it.
Whether they will admit it or not, the number one reason most people
shun selling is avoidance of the word, NO!
For the hawker it shows in your rolling up the
window as he approaches; for the insurance sales agent, it could be,
being told “Kageche is not in”, only for the agent to spot him hiding in
the kitchen; for the business to business salesperson it could be being
given the run-around after months of negotiations, over signing of the
contract to install the generator, only to be casually told, “We bought
one three weeks ago. Weren’t you told?”
You cannot simply brush off rejection because
you’ve been told that’s how it’s handled. Doing so piles it up and soon,
boom! — you explode with frustration. Like one mourning, remaining
afloat in an ocean of rejection means acknowledging the pain and
learning to give it a different meaning.
It’s most painful when the meaning is personalised.
That is, insisting it’s me they are rejecting. Give it a different
meaning, like I suppose a hawker does when you roll up the window and he
strolls over to the next car.
Accountability
Sales is unique. You can delegate a desk job and
teamwork can thrive in the hierarchical pyramid. Sales is different. The
buck starts and stops with the thriving salesperson.
He knows back office is there to support him but he’s
also not the king of wishful thinking. The salesperson that is doing
draws a line where his job (as defined by him) ends.
I brought the contract and processing the order is not my
job. The one who is growing (being) develops relations (sells)
internally as he does externally.
He invests in these relationships and takes the rap when the client is unhappy, even though it’s not his fault.
Being, grows the salesperson to take 100 per cent responsibility for the sale. Doing blames.
Successful sales managers efficiently midwife the
being process because they know it inevitably delivers success in the
doing. And you’ll know when you arrive when you hear the magic words,
“You’ve changed.”
Kageche is Lead Facilitator, Lend Me Your Ears; lendmeyourears@consultant.com. www.lendmeyourears.co.ke
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