For many years I’ve been in different types of sales / marketing, business development and sales management roles. Throughout my career I heard plenty of times people showing their basic misunderstanding about the nature of a sales job. I must admit that I get irritated when I hear a sentence that should hurt every genuine sales person, and today I heard these words in three occasions: “Oh you’re very busy, that’s great, it means that you are doing very well”.
What stands in the very heart of each sales job is its scope or mission. In theory this mission is described as “fulfilling the gap between the market demand and supply”. And people often perceive it literally as it says: individuals in sales organizations walk around fulfilling orders and helping clients get what they need (filling the demand).
The more someone’s market position inclines to monopoly the more this statement is true. In every other case it is about a fundamentally wrong interpretation of the sales role. In saturated markets with high competition, sales force has to fight competitors, customer budgets, brand perceptions and many other things such as economic downturn and all of its consequences. Sellers have to be wise, competent, hard working value creators. They have to use the best marketing and sales tactics just to keep their heads above the water. And they will be lucky enough to be successful if, above all that effort, their organization is able to produce quality products within acceptable price ranges.
That’s why I get so amazed when I hear people so easily and unconditionally connecting “a lot of work” to success, over and over again. Indeed every seller can witness the fact that in sales, such as in so many areas of life, the level of work and creativity invested is in line with their achievement. From the other side, and that’s why I detest the “so you are doing well” statement, the nature of sales implies that the hardest work has to be done when the expected level of business is bad. Sellers have to invest most of their energy, time and wisdom when their sales results are below expectations, or perhaps below levels where an organization’s existence is under threat.
So my friends, next time you see me or anyone from my team being very busy, it will just mean that we are working hard to make things happen – in the way that every sales professional should.
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