We’re living in a time when everything customers want to know is readily available online.  They don’t have time for salespeople who walk in to ‘introduce themselves’ or ask ‘can I have a minute?’   For many customers – particularly high-level buyers – it’s a ‘who needs you?’ world for owners when it comes to salespeople.

Be careful.  They just might be.  But, don’t blame it on the internet, cable television, the `balloon boy’ or the Kardashians.   You may want to grab a mirror.

Let’s review.

• Your customers have access to all the information they’ll ever want on the internet, including your pricing.  So, you post all your goodies on there to keep up, lest you be left out.
  
  
• Everyone in the industry talks about enhancing online presence to increase revenue when customers, particularly at the decision making level, are seeking strategic advisors. 
  
  
• We preach long-term commitments while we continue to sell quick-buck solutions, usually after asking about three or four open-ended questions we learned in sales training – in interpersonal skill we hope to enhance through webinars and chat boxes.
  
  
• We still believe our collateral materials are critical, while ALL of us know some of our biggest, best, and longest-lasting client relationships were developed with little more than a blank piece of paper or a napkin.   And, you don’t need no stinking business cards.

In short, we’ve mastered short-term thinking and placebo solutions beyond Jack Kevorkian’s wildest dreams!

I began talking about the necessity of moving away from tactical selling to strategic partner selling – adding value beyond the product – as far back as 1984; but, I certainly wasn’t the first, or brightest, to see this move as an imperative.

While many have been preaching the ‘consultative’ model for decades, the truth is many have fallen short due to a poor understanding of strategy itself – still promoting product value disguised as strategic value.

It’s one of the reasons our training sessions continually emphasize two main points (it takes a lot of emphasis to undue decades of brainwashing):

1. Never `Present’ anything.  It’s the application of knowledge clients want to see, particularly if your application can be couched within their long-term ‘big picture’ strategy.
   
   
2. Don’t even think about ‘closing’ sales.   If you’re doing it right, you’re OPENING relationships.  Sales are short-term.  Relationships are long term.   And, they’re built on truly, really, honestly, actually, inevitably, and increasingly adding value.

Want your reps to be relevant?

1. Don’t focus on how to influence clients.  Focus on how they can impact the clients’ business.
   
   
2. Quit focusing on your competition.  If I see one more ‘how to sell against….’ seminar, I’ll need an airbag.  It’s time to move into the real world:  Focus instead on how you can impact your client’s business.  That’s where success really lives.
   
   
3. Quit worrying about making sales.  Focus on making a difference.  You will astound your clients and baffle your competition.  They won’t know how to act.
   

“But, Jim, our salespeople can’t learn all that stuff!”

Who do you think you’re talking to?  Sorry.  I don’t believe you.  But, you’ll have to teach them something besides the endless parade of how to sell another special section series they’ve become accustomed to enduring.   They need challenges and – believe it or not – they want to sell at a higher level; but, you have to take them there.

Remember, there’s a big difference between you doing something and your simply getting it done.  You don’t have to know everything in order for your people to learn.  You simply have to know how to get them taught.  There’s a difference.

Once you understand these key points and understand you’re in the results business – not in the delivery business, you can move your people to a higher level.  That’s your ticket to success.

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