Is it Sales or Something More?

There are A LOT of misconceptions of sales jobs and salespeople. The reason, most people experience only a small set of the range of sales people in the profession. The experience of most people, whether in business or not, is the experience of the Transactional Salesperson.

A transactional sale is selling to fill one need for the consumer or into one piece of the organization for a business. Transactional selling occurs around those things that you buy once or on an infrequent basis relative to the price and with immense competition in the space (many car companies, many TV manufacturers, etc). When you think about primarily consumer facing things like a pair of shoes, new carpet, a suit, a TV or a car, you’ll likely have memories of some aggressive, arrogant salesperson. He or she probably seemed to think you were dumb and didn’t hide it. If the transactional sale is in a business to business (B to B) setting then this is likely a sale that occurs in one piece of the business for a relatively low cost and with signoff from only a few key stakeholders.

The other complication to salespeople misconceptions is that it is natural for us to lean on the negative. We stain the negative experience in our memories and forget many positive experiences. So, that one time you got pushed around at a car dealership by Jerry, the comb-over rocking, cheap suit wearing, know-it-all will clearly stay on your mind much longer than the ten other car dealerships you went to that day with nice, helpful people at each.

So what is it that I do then?

I wrote an article about this (https://medium.com/@corydavis321/what-do-you-do-bb00c24f5da1#.d9ciwsz1y) a few months back in my fear of trying to answer this question over the holidays and every day it becomes clearer to me. I’m not a salesperson, I’m a consultant.

One thing I’ve noticed that seems to separate many transactional salespeople from the more complex and complicated solving of business problems (solutions selling), is that those on the transactional side aren’t expected to understand the whole business. And, clearly, because their customers don’t expect it of them, most don’t care enough to understand the whole business.

I’d get laughed out of the room if I couldn’t successfully communicate with the marketing, finance, HR, sales, IT, supply chain and procurement teams. And no business relationship would ever begin if I couldn’t understand the needs and goals of each of these groups from the entry-level associate to the C-level executive and everyone in between.

The fun part of what I do is that I’m not going to be able to convince you that we should work together if it isn’t a good idea. Many of us have purchased something over the years because it was pushed on us. We didn’t want it but it was ‘sold’ to us. What I do is fun because it is impossible to push this kind of thing on people. It has to make sense to them, they have to trust me (and the company I work for), they have to see the proof of what I’m saying and they have to decide on their own that it’s the right thing to do. This stuff they are deciding on is just too important to not do that.

So why do I do it? Seems like a lot of work right! It is. But, I love it because I love helping people break out of their comfort zone and challenge the status quo. I love helping them compete in their marketplace. I love helping them look good to their boss and earn their next promotion.

How I do it? I’m just a matchmaker. I don’t spend any time trying to convince someone or persuade someone to buy my stuff. Like I said before, that’s impossible. Just like how your friend might convince you to go on a blind date with someone they know but if it doesn’t go well then they aren’t going to be able to push you to go on a second date or to be exclusive with them or marry them! Because of this, I just spend my time finding people who have hopes for their organizations and provide them some outside help to improve that organization.

Through this matchmaking, I’ve realized that rejection is actually rare. It is a very infrequent thing that someone is the perfect client for us, we are the perfect service provider for them and we don’t start doing business.

More often, business goes away because on one side or the other, someone is trying to stretch outside what they do. The salesperson is trying to bring in business at all costs so they try to sell something that isn’t in their sweet spot. The customer is trying to improve the organization but they aren’t in the right position and/or the right organization to successfully make things happen.

I get excited when I feel that there is a fit between what the client needs and what my firm can provide. That’s the only time.

And, I don’t get excited about the money coming in the door, I get excited because I know that I can help those people with their problems. I get excited because it’s a win-win opportunity. I get excited because it is the beginning of my client improving their business for their customers, their employees and their bottom line.

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