ManageSmarter.com offers this article – If You Want to Improve, Train Your Brain – regarding the need for salespeople to have a broader skill set in today’s market. That is a trend we have seen over the past few years and one that is sure to expand.
Ok, I know sports analogies can get tiresome, but I did appreciate the “subtitle” of this one (emphasis mine):
“Selling is like golf: You will never be perfect but you can always get better,” Johnston explains. “Even the pros lose their swing at times, and it is good to get coaching when that happens.”
You can always get better at selling – how true. We encountered many salespeople who don’t subscribe to that axiom – they do so at their own peril. Unfortunately, this fact is probably the driving force behind sales trainers who offer never-ending training programs also.
Here is a quote I don’t quite track:
But as times change, sales teams need to adjust to them. One such change that has taken the market by storm in recent years is communicating the value of a company’s products and solutions. So if your team is still focused on pricing, they could use a refresher on modern techniques.
Clearly the price-focused sale is still around and many salespeople take that approach (especially when they are uncomfortable discussion money). However, selling value has always been the soul of successful selling. I’m glad to see this value-based selling approach is “taking the market by storm in recent years.”
One truth we have always known is that prospects make a buying decision based on price only when they cannot perceive any significant difference between solutions. If your salespeople are still attempting to sell on price, it is probably time to make some changes on your team.