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Road Warriors: Is Sales Really a Profession?
November 26, 2008
Excerpted from The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management
By Tom Schaber
"Mama didn't raise you to be no salesperson!" —Unknown
If that's not from some country western song it should be. Tell me there's not a whole lot of truth here. When you were about six years old your mother or father probably read you a story every night and I will guarantee that the book's main character was never a sales guy. Our parents did not raise us to be salespeople! No way! At six, your parents started talking to you about what you might be when you grew up and the answers didn't vary much from child to child; the dream was of a doctor, lawyer, nurse, or fireman. (Again, not a whisper about sales!)
Sales was not and still is not considered a profession. Ingrained and burned into our brain is the image of a slick car sales guy from the sixties. (My apologies to the professional car salespeople) You know the guy with checkered pants, wide tie, slicked-backed hair, a bit of a paunch, and a smile that says "here comes another sucker."
Do you remember the sitcom from the seventies called WKRP In Cincinnati? The sales guy was Herb and the producers of the show hardly glamorized Herb. I still get chills thinking about him! Or how about Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman? And in another fictional example, actor Alec Baldwin played a sales manager to a sorry group of high-pressure shmucks selling house siding. The personalities in these examples range from simpleton to huckster, with all manner of variations in between.
Now that you've got the sales guy stereotype planted in your mind, let me blow it out of the water.
Sales is a profession!
Don't flip to the next chapter. Don't shake your head. Don’t think that just because I'm a sales guy of course I will proclaim sales to be a profession. I've sold, managed salespeople, hired and fired salespeople, and trained salespeople for the last thirty years. I've been in front of thousands of customers, closed business, lost business, carried a detail bag, and entertained some world famous cardiologists, people who I call good friends. (Believe me, they would not have bought from me or even dealt with me if they didn't think I was a professional.)
So let's shift this little paradigm here. Sales is a profession. Period. There is a science to selling just as there is a science and process to what most of us consider professions: physician, lawyer, engineer, etc. But not all people believe this, particularly many business owners who believe that if you do a good pitch to the customer, they'll buy. They often ask "Who needs a sales guy anyway? They're a dime a dozen!" Well, you would be right, there are a large group of salespeople who are a dime a dozen but there is another smaller group of salespeople who embody professionalism when they meet with customers and prospects. Let's see why they are different.
Successful sales professionals share these traits:
• They dress and look like professionals and have the right clothes, haircuts, shined shoes etc. They respect themselves and expect respect from others!
• When asked about their goals they will describe, clearly, both their personal and business goals. They know exactly where they're going and how much money they will earn.
• They will be working at specific sales activities at any time of the day. They are focused!
• They communicate effectively and know how to listen. In fact, they listen more than talk!
• They are organized. Professional salespeople do not like leaving anything to chance!
• They provide phenomenal customer service to the point that their customers are willing to pay more for products they sell. Professional salespeople sell product value!
• Most sales professionals have excellent leadership skills. Other salespeople will come to them for advice and mentoring!
• They always make their sales revenue goals. They follow a sales plan!
• They are motivated by money and recognition. They are competitive!
• They follow an organized sales process. Their sales presentations are systematic!
At best this is a partial listing but you get a sense of the characteristics these professional salespeople possess.
Even though sales is a profession, not all salespeople are professionals. You thought this was going to be easy, right? Visualize a bell curve and think of the area to the far right. At this part of the curve you have the top ten percent of all salespeople, the true sales professionals. Of course, you’re asking where this number comes from. During thirty years working in sales organizations I looked at the people I worked for, the peers I worked with and those who I managed. The number of people in those three groups is in the high hundreds. The percentages indicate that out of these people no more than ten percent were sales professionals as defined above. Based on my experiences and the experience of other managers I have consulted the percentage is realistic.
No bell curve describing the success patterns of salespeople is complete without describing other types of salespeople. If the top ten percent represent sales professionals then the 10% at the other end of the bell curve are the bottom feeders. They are the polar opposites of the people described above. Looking at this group you'll find that, some or all of the following, are true of them:
• Their resumes read like fables. You'll find gaps in their employment!
• They do not have well-articulated or written goals. Chances are they have no goals!
• Their cars look like trash and they look disheveled. They make lousy first impressions!
• They don't appear "together." They leave the sample that they should have had on the sales call in the office; they have no customer records so they don't remember the names of their contacts; and they ramble on about the features of their product.
• They make poor eye contact. They don't observe the prospect!
• They talk about features and benefits rather than listen to prospect's needs. They think that by talking they have control of the sales call!
• Reaching their revenue goals is due more to luck than executing a sales plan. They don't realize that luck has nothing to do with achieving revenue goals!
• With luck these salespeople may put in three to four hours of actual sales related work during any given day. Their time=management is non-existent!
Between these two extremes you have the remaining 80% of the salespeople. Those salespeople in the 70th to 90th percentile have a good chance of moving into the top ten. They're not missing that much; a good sales coach will help these folks move up easily. The sales reps in the 10th to 30th percentile are the weakest reps; they have moments when they surprise people, but generally they do as little as possible and don’t leave very positive vibes with others around them.
The remaining 40% can go either way, literally. These are also the people that deserve more time from the owner/manager. Thinking back to my time as a sales manager, I see that I spent roughly half my time in the field with those reps in the middle of the bell curve and another thirty percent with the top ten percent.
Spending more than twenty percent of one's time with the remainder of the salespeople is hardly worth the effort. Many managers, including me, feel that they can turn these salespeople around, but the chances of this happening are between slim and none. In essence you beat yourself up thinking that it's your job to rescue people from Dante’s sales hell! Believe me, there is not enough antacid preparations around to get you through that mess.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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