Is Selling Dead?
I know what you’re thinking: “NO!” You’re also probably thinking, “How can you ask such an egregious question Travis? Isn’t your business dependent on sales too?” Before you get too worked up and angry at me, please hear me out.
“Selling” is traditionally viewed in two ways. The first is simply defining it as a transaction or the exchange of goods and funds between two entities or people. The second is defining it as a profession, an art form, one that requires years of training and hands on experience in order to excel. As with most things however, the true definition is somewhere in the middle. The definition I would like to talk about though is the latter.
Rule #1 in selling is that the company or brand that is closest to the customer wins. It’s a universal truth. While co-hosting on Water Talk at the recent AWWA/ACE show I had a guest, who has been in the water industry for 30 years, sum up the current state of our industry quite well. He said, “We live in a connected world now. Get connected or get forgotten.” This could not be a more telling and accurate assessment of how our solutions are considered and purchased (notice I didn’t say “sold”) in today’s marketplace.
Another understood truth is that most buyers are 75% of the way through their buyer’s journey before they contact a company or sales person. Now you may ask, “So if we live in a connected world and most of the buyer’s journey is almost over before they even contact my company, how do I connect with them? The short answer is you need to change your traditional approach to interacting with prospects, completely and without hesitation.
I think it’s safe to assume that most of you understand that sales pitches, brochures, promo videos, product features aren’t how customers choose to connect with a brand, at least not until the very end of their journey. Customers will connect with your brand when you give them a reason, when you give them information, when you give them insight, when you give them more than just a sales pitch on paper.
I’m sure in your role there have been sales people that have called on you for anything from supplies, transportation, marketing (ha!), etc. To prove my point let me ask you this: When was the last time a sales person, either over the phone or in person, brought you anything that was material in providing real commercial insight? I’ll wait.
If you are still focused on just how wonderful your products or solutions are then you’re losing WAY more business than you are aware. You may be seeing it in subtle ways (slightly lower margins, increased cost of sale, etc.) but the breadcrumbs are there and they will eventually lead you out of business or into acquisition. It’s not that your sales people aren’t effective. It’s just that they aren’t given a chance to connect because they are forced to only talk about your company, your brand, your benefits, and your success stories. Give them a chance and your company will thrive.
Image credit: "Easter Island, Ahu Tongariki," Arian Zwegers © 2011, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/