Well, I would sure hope they do!

But here is what is wild – most of them probably don’t.

They don’t like salespeople, and they don’t like what they think salespeople have to do to be successful.

Why Some Salespeople Don’t Like Selling

They need a job, maybe they even like talking to people (but…even more crazy is to see people in a sales role that don’t really want to talk to anyone). But they don’t like selling.

It’s very possible that this group of your team frustrates you. You don’t understand why they aren’t more motivated or effective. You feel their resistance to sales processes and changes and think they just don’t like change.

Maybe you even support them and agree with them (saying things to yourself…or even to them, like “I wish the company would stop changing things all the time, and just let us sell.”)

What Selling Should Be About

You, of course, really like the art and science of sales – of getting someone new to buy from you. And hopefully with the intention of leaving them better than you found them.

Now, to be clear, your team isn’t resistant to helping people. They just don’t understand the difference between the gross, slimy, pushy, manipulative salespeople they have encountered or seen in movies/TV shows, and what selling is really about.

It’s your job to help them understand the difference – to shift their mindset.

Step 1: Help Them Admit Their Mindset Barriers

The first step is always the hardest (of the 12 steps) – admitting you have a problem. You must get them to admit their mindset barriers/limitations for what they think sales means.

One exercise to try is with a dry erase board or giant piece of paper or poster board, have the team call out words that come to mind when they hear the word sales. You could tell them to give you the ‘negative’ words that come to mind first, or just ask in general and see what their mind thinks of first.

This will be very insightful for you and them. You can then facilitate a discussion around the positive words they come up with, and how sales = service. And that they – as salespeople – can dictate which mode they focus on…the positive or negative words/actions.

The first key is awareness – putting words to their limiting mindset and then showing them that there is another way to think about sales.

Step 2: Visualize the Worst-Case Scenario for Prospects

The second exercise that I have found very helpful for getting a team of sales-resistant salespeople to sell is to help them visualize the worst-case scenario for each prospective customer. What would happen if you DON’T help them buy what is being offered? What will happen with their life and business?

I have written about this before, but it is so critical with creating a different mindset. Instead of “I need to push this person to buy so I can get the sale” it becomes “I need to help this person buy, no matter what it takes to help them get unstuck, because I owe it to them.”

And fundamentally, if your goal is to leave people better than you found them (which is a part of my personal mission statement), then you will shift the energy, focus, and conversation to be about them and not yourself.

The Golden Rule and The Order Taker Trap

Salespeople who resist selling are typically trying to follow the Golden Rule – do onto others what you want done to you.

They have had bad experiences with salespeople and consciously and unconsciously have vowed to never do that to anyone else. To never be pushy, gross, or lie and manipulate to make a sale.

But that is then putting them into the Order Taker category, which doesn’t work in sales.

So do all you can to help them see what the future would look like for that prospect who doesn’t buy, goes about their life as normal, and what negative outcomes could come.

[Of course, as I always say, this exercise is predicated on you actually selling something of value that helps people/businesses – not just crap that people don’t need.

Conclusion

Final thought – there is a good chance that you cannot shift their mindsets. They are too set in their ways. Then you need bring in new people who understand what a sales professional is supposed to do, and remove the others on your team who don’t get it.