The Role of Sales Experience

If all that matters is the Sales Experience (https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/10.7.LI.AM), then what is your part in ensuring that happens?

Where are you complicit in letting your salespeople sell in whatever way they think is best?

Where are you thinking or saying, “they are salespeople, they know how to sell”?

What is interesting is that in all my observations of salespeople, there seems to be a universal sales playbook out there. It’s like the era of our ancestors where they passed down information, history, and ideas through stories from one generation to the next. With sales, there seems to be a sales ‘folklore’ passed from salesperson to salesperson, all around the country, of what you are supposed to do as a salesperson.

This applies to the cold emails that a salesperson sends (the templates are amazing similar, even though there is no way all the companies in the country have found the same template), to the outbound cold calls, to the voicemails.

The Challenge of Past Success

The sales process seems to be the same. It’s probably the one you used when you were a top rep before getting promoted.

The challenge is that it probably worked for you, thus why you were successful. Selling the standard way got enough deals over the line, made you enough money, and got you the recognition you wanted.

But is it possible that how you sold also wasn’t the ideal way to go? Was it the Sales Experience that prospective customers were looking for?

Recognizing the Gap

One of the biggest challenges mentally for many sales leaders is to recognize that gap. The difference between what you did that “worked” and what could have been more ideal.

It’s difficult to overcome because it requires you to admit that there could be a better way. Most people lead from a place of “here is what I did, and this is the best way that you should follow as well” without regards to what could yield different, better results.

Considering the Customer's Perspective

And, let me just add, there is a good chance that you are really amazing at sales – that you can persuade most people you talk to to move forward. Skills, experience, persistence, maybe even brute force of will power.

But what do your customers want as the experience from their end? What would help more of them move forward in the right ways (for themselves, not you), and be glad they purchased?

In thinking about the Ideal Sales Experience – again, from the customer’s perspective – what can you do with your team to help them shift? Where are the gaps in how they sell now versus what a potential customer would prefer?

How can you shift the mindsets and actions of your team to focus on that Ideal Sales Experience?

Does It Matter to You?

Do you think it even matters?

Unfortunately, I experience many sales managers that do not think it matters. They are in the “I know how to sell – how to get people to move forward.”

Usually the stated sentiment is also “buyers are liars.” Which means that your prospective customers cannot be trusted. You can’t trust what they say, what they say they want. “They probably don’t even know what they want…so it doesn’t matter what I ask them or what they say.”

Your Role in Shifting the Mindset

How can you lead your team to a different mindset, especially if you are a sales manager that believes the above statements?

What is your mindset? Are you in line with how your company feels about the customer?

If yes (and I truly hope the answer is yes) …then what do you need to do, as a leader of the sales team, to help them focus on the ideal sales experience?

What can you watch for, listen for, observe that is in direct conflict with the buyer’s journey that your prospective customers are hoping to experience?

And one thing that I have never (and I mean never) seen is a sales manager ‘mystery shop’ their own company/team. To go through the buyer’s journey from the prospect’s point of view. It can be tough depending on the size of your team or type of sales (retail is pretty hard to mystery shop, but not impossible). Spot check your team or find someone who can help as a mystery shopper to see what really happens during the sales experience.

Conclusion: Experiencing the Customer's Journey

If you haven’t experienced the customer side of your sales experience, how do you know if it’s the effective, ideal one for your customers?