In planning for a move to a different state all things must
be considered, including boring things, like health insurance. Most employers
have health insurance as a group plan provided to their employees for a portion
of their pay, however, some don’t. Not knowing who I will work for or what
their benefits package may or may not be, I must prepare for all possibilities,
including paying out of pocket for my own health insurance benefits. As a
precaution I went to a website to request a quote for health insurance and then
immediately regretted my decision. I was bombarded with an oppressive amount of
phone calls from insurance “sales professionals.” So many calls that I started
answering the phone with, “Hello, this is Adam, are you calling about health
insurance?” Of all the “sales professionals” I “spoke” with I only had an
earnest conversation with one, that’s one out of about 25, which is about 4%.
What is “sales professional” and “spoke” in quotations for?
Am I one of “those people” who are constantly caught with my 2 fingers ever so
slightly bent, eye brows raised, and throwing out obligatory quotes around
things like a young gunslinger from the Wild West? No ma’am, no sir, nope,
sorry partner, that’s not me. I’m no irrelevant quote finger slinging cowboy. The
one guy I actually spoke with, had a genuine conversation with, was an exception
of the blood sucking, number chasers I listened to practice scripted
monologues. I didn’t really get to speak, thus my use of the quotation marks.
The same is true of sales professional, which leads me to the very essence of
this writing. Is that really a sales professional? What is sales? What is a
sales professional in this new environment? Answering these questions will help
sales organizations decided what kind of business they want to run, what type
of business they want to retain, and what sales actually is, which all shapes a
company culture.
I will NEVER do business with any of the companies that
contacted me regarding health insurance. Their sales professionals represented
their employers horribly. Insurance is like shoes, paper, homes, or any other
product or service. You aren’t really going to twist someone’s arm into doing something;
you’ll just create an unhappy customer or even worse, a regretful one. So what
is sales then? What are these people trying to do or where are they missing the
boat? As a universal principle, everything and everyone has a value. It is our
personal experiences and contexts that develop and shape our value systems. I
value quality over money or quantity. Some people value low cost over quality.
The point is we all have different value systems. As an example I’ll refer to
one of my favorite things, shoes. I love shoes, yes, love. I get a high from
finding a special pair or a nostalgic pair from my childhood I wasn’t able to
get as a lower income family growing up. I now value quality over low cost. I
would rather buy one pair of Cole Haan or Allen Edmonds oxfords than 7 pairs of
Sketchers. That doesn’t mean Sketchers are bad shoes. That doesn’t mean
everyone should buy Cole Haan or Allen Edmonds. That simply means I prefer
getting a quality pair of shoes over a reasonably priced one with lesser
quality. I’d rather invest upfront, say $650 for those Cambridge Wingtips that
will last me 10 years over replacing them each year for a pair of $99.95 Steve
Maddens. Mathematically, in my head, it makes sense to spend 650 once every ten
years than it would be to spend $99.95 for 10 years, which would come out to
$999.50. So to me the value is in quality and longsighted durability.
As sales professionals it is most effective to figure out
the value system of the individual you are talking to. I would make that sales
pitch to a guy like myself who gets sticker shock over a $650 pair of wingtips
because I know he values quality and durability over just the cheapest price.
However, if a young guy fresh out of college came into buy shoes and he only
had $200 dollars to spend and was only getting the shoes for an interview next
week, my approach would be different. As would my sales approach be different
to someone who likes to get a bunch of pricing and product details to compare
and make a decision once all the data is in front of them. The point here is
scripts and pushy salesmanship is a short sighted ideology for companies.
So what is selling then? At its core sales is about product
knowledge and relationship management/development. Know what you are
representing and be confident that this product or service will sell itself. If
you present the product confidently and worry about developing rapport with the
other party you can then begin to understand their value system. You can then
become something more than a stranger offer or trying to force something down
their throat. When you remove price from the equation it becomes more about
personal values. When you can stroke someone’s personal value system then you
begin to get into elite selling. Elite because you create a relationship where
trust is built in and no longer are they purchasing the product or service,
they are purchasing you, your company, something that has no competitors.
Sales is more complicated than people like to make it. I
understand it’s quick and easy for companies to make things easy, however,
sells is about people and people are complicated and complex. A solution to a
complex problem cannot be simple and black and white. Why would selling
something be then? I think it’s high time we as professionals and businesses
begin to re-imagine and redefine the ideology of sales.
What do you think? What do you sell? What are some of your sales experiences, good and bad?
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