I was at a dinner recently with fellow members of a board on which I serve. During our conversation, I heard a few stories, all with a common theme:
- “All she gave up was her daily pre-dinner cocktail, and she has lost almost 20 pounds.”
- “Once I got rid of the Facebook app on my phone, I have been paying a ton more attention to the people around me.”
- “I stopped lifting heavy weights, and my shoulder feels 100 percent better.”
For some reason, I thought it was strange how the theme of these success stories was about giving up something instead of adding something to a routine or behavior. Like most things in my life, I brought this conversation back to sales and the behavior of salespeople.
We are constantly being told to prospect more, spend more time preparing, update our CRM more frequently, etc.; but what about the things we should stop doing? Since it is the new year, and you are likely bored with typical resolutions, I thought the timing would be perfect to share five things sales professionals should stop doing. Whether you are looking for another resolution for the year, or you just want to sharpen your game, pick a couple of these to tackle right away.
1. Stop thinking of yourself as a solutions-provider. Good salespeople provide solutions, but the great ones find the problems in the first place. In today’s buying environment, your customers can use Google to find a solution; however, no online resource can find your customers’ specific problems. Become a problem-finder, and your solutions will never be questioned.
2. Stop being a prisoner to email. Successful selling requires creative thought, and creative thought cannot be fostered while being distracted by chimes every time an email pops into your inbox. Block off a few times per day to catch up on email, and turn it off the rest of the day – yes, the rest of the day.
3. Stop believing that relationships are everything. Please don’t read this incorrectly – relationships are still important, but they are not everything like they used to be. Your customers are not worse people than they were 10 years ago, but they have more eyes on their choices. In the past, your point of contact could stay committed to you, and no one had the time to challenge it. Today, everyone is involved in every decision, so your point of contact must make the best decision possible – whether that means you or your competition. Relationships are still important, but they are no longer everything.
4. Stop relying on PowerPoint. Do you want to shock your next prospect? Show up and have a discussion – yep, an actual conversation without a PowerPoint deck. If you really want to differentiate yourself, deliver your next presentation interacting with a flip chart or white board. PowerPoint has made ours a profession of average speakers. If you want to be great, do not totally rely on it. For the record, you should still use it, but not all the time.
5. Stop complaining about the new way of buying. The profession of selling will take another 10 or 15 years to catch up to this new way of buying. Decades of traditional sales training is not wiped out in a few years; therefore, this delay gives you a huge opportunity to dominate the marketplace. Read everything you can about new B2B buying patterns, and use your gut feel to navigate this new process. We are all learning, so take a lead and surpass your competition – along the way, you will stop complaining and start appreciating the new way of buying!
Chris Peterson is the founder and president of Vector Firm (www.vectorfirm.com), a sales consulting and training company built specifically for the security industry. To request more info about the company, please visit www.securityinfowatch.com/12361573.
