A salesman on my team was foot-blitzing one afternoon. Entering one of many small businesses that day he was greeted by a “lets get rid of this guy” employee. As my salesman was about to leave… a salesperson from their company pipes up and offers to meet with us. She asked who the decision maker was and called me. Her offer was to listen to our offering if we would listen to hers. I am truly impressed!
I was out on a closing appointment with a sales professional that had been in the industry for some time. As we were sitting across from the potential customer I noticed a competitors card sitting on his desk. My immediate gut feeling was that we were not going to win this deal after all. Chit chat and niceties prevailed but no one was getting to the point of this meeting. I couldn’t handle it anymore and simply asked the client if we were going to be awarded the deal. The customer unblinkingly said no. Looking at the salesman I could see shock and disbelief. Definitely an awkward moment.
Have you ever dealt with a salesperson that was less than and pretty sure they were winging it? No real substance and professionalism? Not confidence inspiring and definitely not an evangelist for their offering? Pushy, almost panicked, to make a sale? Maybe you’ve found yourself winging it? How does this happen! Well, there’s actually a good explanation and it has to do with sales training.
Sales people fret and stew over hitting quota and a host of other items. As a manager they would come to me and ask what they should do? My advice was always the same. Stop worrying about your quota, performance plan, and what others think about you. Are you happy? Are you making the income desired? Are you hitting your goals? Are you in charge of your sales success?
If not… Why not?