A good salesperson can sell anything to anyone.” True or false?
The statement infers a salesperson who has mastered the skill of selling, possess the ability to convince any person to buy any product or service.
This is a myth.
The statement may have had credence decades ago when the business world was simpler, but today’s selling/buying environment is more complex, clients are better informed and have considerably more choice.
Let us digress for a moment and look at the sport of cricket. The game has been played at an international level for over 130 years. In that time, one player, Don Bradman, was the stand-out batsman. His batting average was 99.94. To appreciate the magnitude of this achievement only three cricketers have scored an average of over 60 and none over 61. This is despite the professionalization of the sport, and the dramatic improvement in technology that allows players to hit harder and longer than in Don’s time. Bradman was undoubtedly an exceptional performer.
Like other bat and ball games, cricket requires bowlers. Bradman did bowl and took 36 wickets at first class level. His bowling average was 37.97. Not bad for a part time or change bowler – but not good enough to be selected to play at state level – let alone a national team.
Don Bradman was an outstanding cricketer, as a batsman. Whilst there have been outstanding all-rounders – players who have exceptional skills in both batting and bowling, but these cricketers are rare. The point is, even the best at a given sport are only good at one facet of that sport.
The Don Bradman analogy is also true for extraordinarily successful salespeople. Salespeople with a specific set of skills selling a product/service within a sales environment best suited to them can be outstanding performers. However, when placed in a different sales environment selling a different product/service, their performance can drop to below average. Being in the wrong sales environment can also create psychological problems and impact on self-worth, motivation and in extreme cases a sales career. So why will a salesperson change their sales environment?
There are two main reasons:
1. Unaware there are different sales environments and the risk associated with change
2. Advice given by others who are equally uninformed.
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Sales environments – an introduction
Any product or service can be matched to one of four distinct sales environments. Salespeople who consistently produce a high level of sales outcomes have the skills and attributes aligned to their matching sales environment. For a sales manager to be most effective their skills set needs to correspond in the same way.
The days when a salesperson had all the product knowledge are long gone. Search engine technology and social media provide the client with instant information about a product/service and its corresponding competitor products/services. Changes have impacted on how marketing, leadership, governance, and other business functions operate. However, few changes have happened in business to business sales roles.
Sales trainers and course designers have introduced a multitude of sales programs including but not limited to strategic selling; relationship selling; consultative selling; conceptual selling; visionary selling and smarter selling. Whilst most of these concepts may add to the growing body of knowledge, many contain similar theories and or use content comparable to that developed in the 1960 and 70’s. For example, ‘close early and close often.’ To rely solely on sales technique in more sophisticated and complex sales settings will result in failure.
A sales environment is influenced by core elements including:
The customer/client’s need and knowledge
A customer/client’s knowledge and experience with a product/service can range from none to extensive. A product/service value can be critical to a business’s success or at the other extreme it could be a commodity. Depending on these variables a salesperson needs to be aware of their individual customer/client’s past and present expose to their and or competitor product/service.