As improvisation becomes the new norm in sales, sales people must become more independent and willing to take initiative in the sales process in order to be successful. They cannot rely on cookie-cutter answers that are executive approved, and must be able to be confident in their abilities to do what is best for the company that they are selling for and the company that they are selling to.
Since sales is becoming more personal and specific to each individual sale it is important that the salesperson be well-versed in the details of his/her products. S/he must know the absolute minimum amount of money that the company can sell products/services for in order to make it still worth their while, and know exactly how they are able to customize an offering to a specific client.
This means that it is important to hire sales people who will feel confident enough to make decisions on their own during the sales process. A conversation with a client could easily go downhill if the sales person constantly feels the need to check in with his/her supervisors before proceeding with the sale. S/he must be able to take the initiative and make a sale that does good for both companies involved without following a script.
testacr22
Good article. I like the mindset here. As we have talked in class, sales people should be rather entrepreneurial in nature. As entrepreneurs they have to be able to pivot at any given moment to reach their client.