What are sales people for anyway?
Selling has historically been about communicating a company’s value – the company creates value and then the sales team communicates that value to clients. That is why so many sales presentations still focus on the seller and why some sales people travel thousands of miles just to talk their client through the latest brochure/PowerPoint.
Unfortunately for such sales teams, a great swathe of change has swept over the business world.
It has become easy for clients to gain information about your company and what you offer in just a few clicks. Sales people that still see their role as presenting their company are living in the past.
As services become more commoditised it becomes more difficult to differentiate. So if you cannot demonstrate unique value in your service you must do that through the way you sell – Companies now need their sales people to create value for their clients in the way they sell. The high performers in sales teams have found ways to do this and, in complex, consultative sales, are selling two or three times more that the average and can be delivering as much as 80% of the total revenue.
The problem is that high performers make up less than 20% of any sales team and are a scarce resource where demands outstrip supply. Companies have failed to develop strong consultative selling capabilities across the majority of their sales people and have become dependent on a few naturally talented individuals who can make it happen. Notably in the finance sector it is not uncommon for a high performer to command a £m salary for their ability to bring in business.
Increasing dependence on superstars has made companies vulnerable.
The average performer, which makes up the bulk of any team, also want to become superstars they just do not how. Our role is to help clients build a capability to create more of their own high performers. |
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