What I Learned About Selling in 2008

December 29th, 2008 by admin

This time of year brings smiles, joy, anticipation and temper tantrums…oh, the holidays! It also tends to bring reflection. As I sit here resisting the urge to ingest yet another useless, 550-calorie, oatmeal cookie, I thought I’d look back on the past year and share with you what I’ve learned about selling in 2008.

  1. Persuasion is dead. If you’re in it to convince and persuade, you need to call 1986 and ask if you can have your job back.
  2. Sales presentations should NEVER be presentations. When one gets out of presentation mode and into conversation mode, the whole game changes.
  3. The economy breathes and so do sales results. Those who embrace the ebb and flow of the sales arena and look at breathing times to exploit opportunities, always wind up at the top of the sales results list.
  4. For the most part, sales managers suck. Most sales managers don’t add value to their salespeople’s performance. It’s not their fault. They’ve not been taught properly.
  5. People pay money for things that make their lives better/easier. They don’t pay money for products, things, features or functions.
  6. Personal ACCOUNTABILITY is missing in the DNA of most salespeople. Those who have it are at the top of their game.
  7. LEAD GENERATION is still the biggest problem for most sales organizations. A lack of INNOVATION in generating qualified leads is to blame. (Stay with us in 2009 if you want innovation for lead generation.)
  8. Most salespeople worry most about what they can’t control and thereby ignore what they can control. (“Danger, Will Robinson!”)
  9. Most salespeople are smarter and better than they think they are or allow themselves to be. Are you one?
  10. Most SALES TRAINING SUCKS. Product training is WAY overrated. Sales process training is still about getting the deal and persuading someone to buy. Once the majority figure out there is a better way, look out.

That’s the list for 2008. We live in a great time. Relish the fact that selling is a great profession and will continue to be for a very long time.

Related posts:

  1. The 5 Sales Training Lessons You NEVER Should Have Learned
  2. 2008 Success Insights
  3. Bonus 3: 2008 Sucess Insights Audiobook
  4. Bonus 2: Most Pressing Sales Problems 2008
  5. The Sales Manager's Growth Kit for 2008

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Posted in Bryan Neale, Current Affairs

  • http://thedeathofthecopier.blogspot.com/ Greg Walters

    Good show.

    I don’t think I can add anything to this list.

    Cheers to a better 09.

  • http://davesteinsblog.wordpress.com Dave Stein

    Great list, Brian.

    Just a comment about #10. I don’t see sales process training as “still about getting the deal and persuading someone to buy.”

    Perhaps you and I have a different definitions of the word “process.”

    Some of the best-performing sales organizations we speak with use process as a tool to be certain, among other things, that the customer’s business is completely understood (including objectives, obstacles, enablers, strategies, how they define success, etc.), the competitors’ approaches have been anticipated and appropriate competitive strategies and counterstrategies are in place, the customer’s buying process (if they have one) is understood and leveraged, etc.

    Over the past three years, significant research has been published that concludes that process makes a big difference in sales effectiveness. Glad to provide that if you’d like.

    I agree that old-fashioned forms of persuasion are no longer relevant. In fact they turn many buyers off. But getting the deal? Isn’t selling, in its basest definition, trade? A formal exchange of business value for the buyer for remuneration for the seller? Even the the most strategic of partnerships between buyer and seller start with a deal of some sort.

    Not sure of your point, but I’ve got an open mind…

    Happy New Year.

  • http://www.caskeyone.com/blog Bryan Neale

    Dave. Thanks for the comment. Having read some of your material, I feel we’re in the same camp. There is no question that process makes perfect. (That is one of the titles of Bill’s book Same Game New Rules-Insight 3, Page 41). AND the wrong process or one founded in misplaced intent does you no good. I feel strongly even those who are sales process JUNKIES use the process they teach for the sole reason of GETTING THE DEAL. I think that “vibe” then clutters and clouds what is probably a very strong process. Great process wrapped in great intent is effective, efficient and the best in all scenarios.

    Thanks again for reading and commenting. …and I’d love to see any research you want to share.

    Here’s to 2009.

    B

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  • Todd Rogers

    Bryan.
    Excellent post. Though I am not convinced persuasion is dead, per se. However, as it has come to be known: “Mr. Prospect, I think you should reconsider…and here’s why” is indeed useless. In the school of Cialdini, minds and positions do change and all the time. Thus, someone or something can influence that change. In the Caskey school, it’s about (at least for me) finding the ones who are susceptible to the change for a legitimate reason and that’s where one should be spending his or her time. So perhaps number one might be better stated as something such as Persuasion as you’ve known it must be reconsidered.

  • http://www.thompsonmarketing.com.au CS Thompson

    @ Todd

    Persuasion as you’ve known it must be reconsidered. Thats a great quote. I would have to agree with you about persuasion. It still happens, but we just can’t be using sleazy persuasion methods. Even coming from a position of strength and pure motive, you will still need to move someone and influence their opinion, as they might not know whats best for them :) Process and education and questioning and consulting are all persuasion in various forms. However they give dignity and value to the client and self respect to the consultant.

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