Salespeople and Why We Need More of Them.
In my opinion, I feel "sales" is one of the more mis-understood words in the english language...at least in the context of consumer behavior and business. Unfortunately, sales or salespeople, for the most part, are stereotyped as inauthentic, manipulative, self-serving vessels that do not have the greater good in mind. The profession itself is viewed as undesirable by most due to the competitive, commission driven nature. How many of us were told by our parents growing up to avoid sales/commission centered jobs, right? I can't fault this stereotype as I've personally had that experience once or twice and yes, I'd be lying if I denied that once I'm connected with "the sales rep", I immediately feel like I'm in for the dog and pony show.
Like many professions, it takes only a few bad practitioners to ruin it for everyone. Take the fitness industry for example. There are fitness professionals that go through a four year academic program and become certified through a nationally accredited organization (ex: ACSM). They're truly qualified practitioners that have the acumen to help those looking to improve their health. There are also fitness professionals that take a weekend course which only required a high school degree to sit for. When it comes to experience and achieving your ideal goals, you'll probably want to work with the first trainer I described. Because of this inconsistency, most of the population views the fitness industry as unsafe, entertaining and whimsical. Back to sales, once you've encountered a salesperson who reinforced your belief of the above stereotype, we lose trust with the profession as a whole.
What Sales Really Is
Sales is really synonymous with service. My definition of sales is serving someone with a solution that will ultimately enhance their quality of life...that's it. The greatest salespeople are service providers and the greatest service providers are relationship cultivators. Relationship cultivation stems from authentic, genuine curiosity about the person across from you. It's the true energy source that moves you to communicate with another person excitedly, regardless of their end action. Salespeople are the ultimate story gatherer's and use their unique abilities/resources to serve others.
Salespeople can Transcend Transactional Relationships
There was a period in my business where our team shifted towards a compensation model that incorporated a commission component. "We're gonna have to sell?!?....great". This was the general sense among the team, at least what I gathered. The work that was ahead for my team and I was rewiring our relationship with sales to something that was anabolic vs. catabolic. Our process went something like this:
- Awareness: Believe it or not, we're "selling" every minute of every day. We're selling our thoughts, ideas and opinions without even realizing it. Every time we encourage a member in our facility to increase their loads on the leg press, we're selling them on why they should do that. Ever make a suggestion to go to Mani Osteria as opposed to Isalita to your spouse? You're actively selling them on why. Have you talked yourself in (or out) of waking up earlier to make it to the 6am circuit training class? You sold yourself right there. None of those little decisions are manipulative or ill-intended, in fact, it's the opposite. We sell our thoughts to others in efforts to help them or the collective good (at least the people in my circle do).
- Belief: It is impossible to sell-->service-->cultivate if you do not believe your unique abilities and resources can help. This is where a lot of the stereotype with salespeople comes from. Poor salespeople jam their unique ability/resource into a problem whether they believe they can help or not. Example; We have a health epidemic in our country. People are living longer and more sickly. I strongly believe my health and fitness services can aid those people looking for help. I would be out of alignment with these laws if I were trying to service people looking to solve a plumbing problem in their home. My unique abilities and resources simply do not fit nor do I believe I can help them.
- Cultivate: The final stage of rewiring comes with cultivating relationships. In order to qualify whether or not your unique abilities and resources can help someone, we must understand who they are and what their needs/goals are. This is where genuine curiosity about the other persons' story happens, to truly understand the path they're on and connect them with the resources in their best interest (even if that means connecting them with someone else!). Keyword here is genuine.
After adopting these three principles, our relationship with sales began to shift closer towards service-providers and more miraculously, from service-providers to relationship cultivators. This is how true salespeople exist.
Why We Need More Salespeople
In a day and age where technology allows us to sidestep human interaction more easily than ever, the skills of relationship cultivators are less likely to be sharpened. As a whole, this is concerning as it puts human engagement in question if we look far enough out. 52% of Americans reported feeling lonely and 47% felt that their relationships with others were not meaningful [Cigna, 2020]. In a world where access to communication is greater than ever, could this sense of loneliness be connected with a scarcity of relationship cultivators?
The skills that great salespeople have I feel are lacking in humanity. Empathy, curiosity, love, resourcefulness and emotional intelligence are essential to helping people thrive. To take transactional relationships to a level of more meaning is truly the essence of what we're talking about here. I consider myself a salesperson, in and out of my business. It is our responsibility to use our unique abilities responsibly and mold those around us as such.
Oh, and it also feels good when you cultivate a relationship ;).