“Today, you are a rooster! Tomorrow you’ll all be feather dusters unless you make your numbers!! So stop your BS and get out there and bury the competition!!”
Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were on the set of Glengarry Glen Ross decades ago, but these words unfortunately came from the boardroom of a fine Australian corporation last week – straight from the mouth of the General Manager, himself.
Contrast that with my favourite sales team that I work with in Atlanta, Georgia – ‘Northwest Pest Control Company’ who have positioned themselves as the leading company in their industry – and it is not hard to see why. Rather than keep all their success secrets to themselves, they have invited the state’s smaller pest control companies to their offices so they can share with them the principles that have led to them becoming the experts in their field.
Whose salespeople will care more? Whose salespeople will be more proud, passionate and paid up? Whose salespeople will add more value to their current clients and have stories to tell their prospective clients? Whose salespeople will sell more?
Business as usual won’t cut it – especially in the world of selling where the majority of leaders’ mantras still includes – ‘Get the deal at any cost’, ‘Discount the deal before month end’, ‘Cut the margin and give them something to get them to sign NOW’.
There needs to be a shift in intention with both the leaders and the individual salespeople for EVERYONE to benefit on ALL levels. In the book ‘Conscious Capitalism’, the authors espouse 4 tenets of conscious capitalism:
Higher Purpose, Conscious Leadership, Stakeholder Integration and Conscious Culture and Management.
I think they are missing a standalone tenet – Conscious Selling.
Ask yourself the following:
- Are you just ‘doing a deal’ and going through the motions – knocking on the metaphorical door, instructing people on your product and then asking for the order? after all, that’s what your job entails isn’t it? or…
- Are you at a point where you have built caring relationships, where you will go a little bit above and beyond influencing people on what your offering can do for their business? after all that’s what your job also entails, isn’t it? … or
- are you inspiring your customer by pre-empting their questions of what’s next, what’s new and what’s different in a way that will transform the partnership, tap into their identity and identify their real buying patterns, truly be there to serve them instead of just providing a service and providing them with real purpose and profits? after all, that’s what you are not yet aware is the difference that makes the difference, right?
Selling today is not about making money as it always has been. It is about making money with meaning.
So three things to think about this week –
- Rethink WHY you are in a sales role?
- Rethink HOW you can shift your approach, focus and outcomes
- Rethink WHO you might need to morph into, to do both.
Be Bold and Brilliant – As Usual!