For the life of me I can not figure out how threatening a persons income has become a “stick” for sales training. “You could always not get paid”, “Your commission will be cut if you don’t…, You screwed up… which cost me.. and now is going to cost you!”. And yet I have witnessed this time and time again by so called “managers”. Why would someone do that? Why would someone let them do that?
Consultative selling has been around for quite a while. At least as long as I have been in sales and that’s a long time. I find it a little humorous that current authors, sales gurus, and presidents of sales teams feel they are the originator of this selling style. I also find it a little odd that 70 to 80% of the sales professionals I have come in contact with don’t do it. Why is that? To understand this we need to have a basic understanding of what it is.
Like clockwork, every year, I have this gnawing at my subconscious that I should develop some sort of personal and professional direction for the year. I fret and stew over what these elusive goals should be many times giving up on this endeavor all together in frustration. I’m terrible at setting goals! How about you?
The last time I searched and interviewed for a leadership job I had an interesting experience. In one particular instance the interviews had gone well with the hiring manager hinting to me that it was mine. “When you come aboard Chris, we will need to…“. My inside sources were telling me I had nailed the job as well. At the 11th hour, however, everything went silent. After pushing for information I received the “dear John” letter that I had not received the position. How could this happen?