“I would never work in sales.”
“Salespeople are just trying to take my money.”
“Sales people are…” “pushy.” “obnoxious.” “slick.” “manipulative.” “deceptive.”
The above are all common views of sales, and salespeople. Where did this negative view come from? Is it accurate? The answer to the accuracy question is yes and no. “Sales” has earned many, if not all its infamous labels. But these negative views do not accurately represent all of sales or sales people.
To get a full glimpse of where sales has been and where it is now, let’s look at the old view of sales compared to the new view.
The Old Way
For many years, sales technique was all about being pushy, persuasive and manipulative. This is how a many people found great financial success, often at the expense of others. The people that worked in these roles were often slippery individuals with big mouths and small hearts. Folks to whom cash spoke louder than conscience. This was at least the public opinion of such people.
The reason these salespeople could have so much financial success was mostly due to the lack of information to be had by the general public. This was before the days of google, where you can now research anything from your bed, in your pajamas, in the middle of the night. The slick, quick talking salesman could have his audience duped, sold to, and be on his merry way before the customer ever figured out he’d been cheated.
The New Way
After many years, all the negative stories of deceptive salespeople have piled up. Buyers are on the lookout for these people. As soon as someone feels they’re being sold to, their guard goes up. Red flags appear everywhere. They move into high alert mode as vivid stories of slippery salespeople flood their minds. In this age of technology, people are not so easily fooled.
Sales has been forced to evolve. Effective sales technique now includes things such as getting to know the customer, listening more than talking, and trying to solve customer problems. The focus of sales has shifted to identifying customers that can benefit from the product or service, and serving these people. This is a huge shift. In this new age, buyer and seller are on a level playing field.
Increase in technology has allowed consumers to collaborate and review products, services, and sellers to keep them honest. Sellers are now left with one option. They must act honestly and authentically. Or at least do their best imitation of this.
Authenticity vs. technique
Because of this push for authenticity, sellers are left trying to figure out the best ways to appear to their customers as honest and authentic. Experts are writing books on the best techniques for this, and eager salesmen, looking for an edge, are trying their best “nice-guy” impersonations.
Perhaps as sales people, we need to start focusing on simply being genuine and likeable, rather than trying to appear that way. Maybe as we begin to focus on serving our customers, we won’t have to worry as much about the perfect technique for appearing to be more than we are.
BoweryJE22
I used to view sales people as pushy, obnoxious, slick, manipulative, and deceptive, but I know that not all of them are like that. I thought that the change from the old sales model to the newer is one of the better decisions and makes me think of salespeople less like the word used above.