The sales industry has made little progress on updating sales best practices despite how technology has changed the way people interact with each other.
If you took accounting classes in your college years, you’ll know what GAAP is. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are guidelines by which the finances are kept in order. Without these principles, we wouldn’t have clear insights into how money flows in and out of a corporation. Accountants have taken years to agree upon these rules and they are still revised from time to time.
While our friends in finance and accounting have made a lot of progress on guidelines and best practices, sometimes it seems that our sales community lacks willingness to push forward with any type of meaningful progress.
GASP!
Day in and day out it seems there are certain Generally Accepted Sales Principles that just shouldn’t be questioned. It’s enough to make you GASP!
The reality is that our industry is largely doing the same things, in the same way, we were 20 years ago. Despite the changes in technology, the sales industry has changed very little. When we do have innovative people and methods in our companies, sometimes sometimes it’s too much to handle for management.
Here are the top 3 sales nuisances that’ll make you GASP at our Generally Accepted Sales Principles!
1. The Way We Find Leads
In most B2B companies, the phone is central to lead generation. In this modern day and age when buyers are going online to find information, we’re still trying to get buyers on the phone! I’m not implying that deals will be done in 140 characters on Twitter, but this is about the way we engage people.
The way we find find leads hasn’t changed much at all in the last 20+ years.
2. Our Follow Up
Remember that time you told the telemarketer, “I’m busy, call me later” to get him off the phone? Then, when they called you back and they said, “So, I’m following up… how are you?”
What value did she/he bring you?
Yet, this is how we sales professionals still follow up with our potential buyers. “So Mr./Ms. Customer, what did you think of my demo?”
3. The MACHINE Mindset
Doesn’t it feel like we’re churning out widgets? The whole goal of an organization is to meet a ROI and then multiply it by “x” number of sales people. That’s great for growth, but it dehumanizes the entire team.
In the quest for greater profits, everything becomes systemized and that’s when innovation stops. The quest to stay ahead of the curve may exist in your company’s product development department, but when it comes to sales, it’s all about holding the course and towing the line.
The goal is to extract every penny from our buyers in the most efficient and machine-driven way as possible. And the tools to accomplish this are… the telephone and e-mail!
The Bottom Line
Do you see the problem here? These Generally Accepted Sales Principles are so monotonous and nonsensical, yet we accept them wholeheartedly. Sales leaders currently shudder at the thought of changing from this mindset.
Are you GASPing yet?
If you’ve had enough of this and feel there’s a better way, please contact me at amar@salesforlife.com to learn how social selling can help your organization.
