Why Sales Needs Guides, Not Heroes

So we have determined that we want a team that operates with the mindset and understanding of being a Guide, and not a Hero.

While marketing, media, and “influencers” might make the public feel the world needs more Heros, the world of sales does not.

Your potential customers do not.

They want a Guide to help them…so they are the Hero of the story.

Building a Sales Process That Focuses on the Customer

How can you build systems around that?

How can you support the cultivation and success of Guides?

First is to look at your sales process.

When and where during the sales presentation – whatever form it takes in your organization – does your sales professional talk about themselves, the company, the testimonials/social proof/logos?

That part in particular needs to be further in the sales conversation. Build it according to the Trust stage in the Authentic Persuasion Pathway (if you don’t have a copy of the Pathway, email me – jason@sellingeffectiveness.com).

Fundamentally, build your sales process, scripting, conversations, demo, slides, etc. to focus on the prospect first and make it all about them (and not you!).

Motivating Guides Through the Right Compensation Plan

Next, motivate your team to be Guides. This is generally the role of the job description and compensation plan.

What you focus on in the comp structure is what the team will focus on.

Remember – people will do what is in THEIR best interest. And for salespeople, when you offer up the carrot of additional income, they will do what it takes to achieve that.

I know that can sound negative, but it’s just human nature. If you find that your team doesn’t care about the things you care about (or wish they cared about) then you have built your comp plan incorrectly.

Again, they will do what is in their best interest…so it’s up to you to build a comp plan that puts your sales professionals at the intersection of what each prospect and company needs.

Make sure the long-term success of the Hero (customer) is a part of the comp plan, as well any other metric that means the sales team did their role as the Guide.

The Importance of Hiring the Right Team

Lastly is hiring. I am pretty sure I have mentioned hiring in the last 8 Sales Ops Effectiveness blogs. Not an accident, and not me being lazy.

I truly know from experience that it all starts with hiring. It is really tough to change who someone fundamentally is, what they deeply believe to be true about themselves and the world, how they treat other people, and how they feel about being managed/led.

As they say, you can’t change a tiger’s stripes.

So, if you have people on your team that just won’t adapt to changes and the evolution that is required to succeed in business and life, then you need different people on the team.

You must build the game and parameters for the type of people you want on the team.

Then let the current team play your game and see who wants to win and who should go off and play a different game.

Then build your hiring process to identify and onboard the people who are a better fit for the game you have built.

Conclusion

Of course there is a lot more to running a sales team, but truly those three areas will make a huge impact for most companies struggling to get the results they want from their Guides.