Sales organizations have stopped educating salespeople, leaving them to fall short of what effective selling requires now. What are the new selling standards that people need to be trained to meet? What is the role of the salesperson in this new business environment? How can we disrupt sales in a positive way?
On this episode, I’m joined by sales expert, speaker, author, consultant, trainer, and content producer, John Smibert who shares how sales has changed, and what we need to be doing to raise the standards of the industry.
"The salesperson’s job is to help the customer through a thinking journey to a new way of thinking about their own business." -John Smibert
How companies have changed their attitudes towards training salespeople
There used to be a stronger loyalty between corporations and their sales force, but this has dissipated over time. As a result, organizations aren’t investing enough in training and education for their teams. Salespeople not only need to be educated on their own industry, but also on the customer’s industry, too.
How to think about discovery in sales
People in sales talk a lot about discovery, but make the mistake of thinking only about their own discovery of how to sell. The discovery that truly matters is the client’s. Beyond learning more about the product, they need to discover more about their business challenges and business needs.
Why you shouldn’t shift the client’s thinking too soon
While it’s important to shift the customer’s way of thinking, it’s impossible to do this before taking the time to ask the right questions, understand where they are, and explore the problem they’re facing. Once you’ve learned as much as you can, you can then take them on a journey to a new way of thinking.
Salespeople have to understand that the world has changed, and the customer is not looking for a description of a product, specs, or even case studies. That’s information they can find on their own. The customer is looking for a disruption of their way of thinking. It’s the salesperson’s job to take them on that journey of disruption and discovery so that they can get to what they want.
Guest Bio-
John is a sales expert, speaker, author, consultant, trainer, and content producer. He is the founder of Sales Masterminds APAC. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/smibert/ for more information.