Over the years, I’ve often heard CEOs and sales leaders lament that they wish that their salespeople were more curious. Perhaps you wish that, too?
As a former salesperson, sales leader and executive (I sell my advisory, consulting, training and coaching services today), I’ve concluded that the reason many salespeople don’t seem to be curious is because:
The purpose of sales has never been defined to them
They don’t have the skills to be curious
Purpose of Sales
In a couple of workshops that I ran recently, I stopped to ask salespeople, their managers, head of sales and executive teams, “What is the purpose of sales?” I asked because I wanted to see if there was a common definition of what selling means to each of these companies. A common definition speaks volumes to alignment on goals and consistency of performance.
“Serve the customer” – “hit my number” – “sell our solution” – “address the needs of the customer” – “meet our company goal” – “make commission” – “grow the business” were a few of the answers I received. All are fine, if a bit self-serving (most were internally referenced) and short-sighted.
What was striking and what I ask that you take away from this is that there was no common definition. None of these organizations have ever taken the time to define and make explicit to their sales managers or salespeople exactly what selling means to their organization.
As I look back to my own sales career, I recognize that no leader ever made it explicit to me individually what selling was – or to any team that I happened to be a part of.
So what? Who cares?
My contention is that this is very important and a tremendous opportunity to unleash improved performance from your existing sales team. Lack of clarity on what the purpose of selling is and selling means for your company will mean that the energy of your people will be hugely dissipated and their efforts are inconsistent because they’re all operating on different definitions – some more motivating than others (tapping into intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation).
So, in the absence of a common definition, I offer this one to you to try on:
“To drive (ideally dramatic) measurable improvements to your customer’s business…and personal condition.”
I was first exposed to the concept of “improving the customer’s business condition” through reading the works of Alan Weiss – and for lack of ever having sales defined to me by anyone else, I ran with this definition for many years. It served me well.
Over the years, I’ve expanded on this definition to incorporate elements that I believe are important – to ensure even more success to the salesperson AND customer.
Drive (dramatic) and measurable improvements – it’s easier to sell products, solutions and services that generate quantifiable metrics and significant returns vs. incremental results. It makes it easier to justify and buy for the customer and instills confidence in the salesperson knowing that they can make a big difference to the customer (professionally and personally).
Improve the customer’s personal condition – buyers buy for emotional reasons and back them up with logic, a.k.a the business case. That’s why it’s important to understand their personal win. Here’s the irony: most buyers aren’t clear on what their personal win or emotional reason for buying is. It takes a good salesperson to guide them to uncover the unconscious motivation or reason for buying. Every buyer will have their own reason. You know you have uncovered it when they express that, ultimately, it will lead to their own version of happiness or joy. And it takes skill to do this well…
Skill to Be Curious
Most salespeople have an idea of the sales process or “what to do”. They know what logistical level or solution orientated questions they need to ask to discover if there is a need (or pain) that will qualify if there is an opportunity (they get these from their internal sales playbooks or from listening to other salespeople).
What many don’t know is “how” to go beyond solution or product-focused questions that focus on Inputs or surface order needs. That’s because most have never been taught and their leaders do not model how to have a business conversation focused on outputs vs. sales conversation (inputs).
How can salespeople be curious if they don’t know how to guide a conversation to uncover the case for change and personal win? They will be eternally stuck in surface-level Q&A conversations that don’t make the customer think differently or deeper about their business (or personal win).
“How” do they structure and formulate the right and powerful questions/statements? How do they pick and say the right phrases or words at the right time to intentionally elicit the responses that will create value for the customer and themselves?
It’s usually assumed that they will pick this up by osmosis – and if they last more than 9 months, they may well do.
The “how to” or art of asking effective questions and executing deeper and more valuable conversations – linked to a clearly articulated and team-wide purpose of sales – will create tremendous value for both your customers and sellers (more from what you already have). And yet, it is rarely seen.
TAKE ACTION
If you’re a CEO or sales leader reading this, ask your managers and salespeople what they think is the purpose of sales. You’ll quickly see and hear that there is an opportunity for alignment to get your people on the same page and provide a quick and easy boost to productivity if you can discuss and agree with your own internal definition (do this as a team to create genuine buy-in).
Secondly, ask your salespeople about their purpose, or ‘why’, individually. Why is it that they do what they do? What’s the reason(s) they work for you and sell for you? What does selling for you enable them to do (how does this bring them happiness, joy, contentment, freedom)? You may find that this is the first time they’ve really thought about it in any depth. And, they will appreciate you asking the question if YOU are genuinely curious yourself (see how this works?). Identifying their personal win or intrinsic motivation will allow you to lead and coach your salespeople as individuals and human beings, not just as ‘reps’.
If you’ve been struggling with sales mindset or skills issues for more than 30 days, it’s time to get outside help. Give me a call.