SALESPEOPLE ARE A DYING BREED – What’s Going On?

Prospects have stopped listening and are downright ignoring any attempt by a Salesperson to engage with them. “Say it ain’t so”. Sadly, it is true in most instances and if you have spent more than a minute in sales, you have certainly experienced that “I’m not interested” response even before you speak a word about your product or service.

 Your prospect can do their shopping when and how they want to without even engaging with a Salesperson. What is even more disturbing is that your prospects don’t see any value in speaking with you because we are all being branded as “not very good” because of the Salespeople that bring nothing to the table and take up space and time in the eyes of our prospects. Close relationships with Salespeople that are relied upon are also declining. What’s going on with all of these bad experiences with Salespeople?

 First, the internet and the wealth of information that can be obtained on your company, your products and services has given the buyers just about all the information they need to purchase something. This is of course aside from those of you that sell extremely specialized products or services where you can’t possibly present all that you provide on your website.

 Second, the profession of Sales was seen as an upwardly mobile step to the executive suite and the heyday of sales was supported by tons of training and skill improvement and there was a huge investment in that help to improve your skill. That is not necessarily the case today to the extent of that activity in the 1960’s and into the 1980’s.

 Third is that the work ethic is not what it used to be because it is much harder to make a sale today because of the aforementioned technology but the socio-economic shift to entitlement has contributed to eradicate “hustle”. There is still a need in most sales positions for a knowledgeable, competent, and genuinely trusted advisor and consumers will welcome you but as fewer and fewer consumers experience this, they learn to avoid the waste of time and do it themselves.

 This requires that you as a Salesperson, no matter what you are selling, must evaluate your “sales presence” when engaging prospects and make sure you are adding value and knowledge that can not be gained anywhere else. Take time to improve your skills, engage with help from a Coach, or get some training. Don’t let this noble profession go the way of the dinosaur and become extinct.

To engage my help with refining or developing your approach to selling, contact me at robert@getinthegamese.com or call 904.472.3706

Get some GAME.