The art of sales has changed a lot since I worked for Dictaphone. Probably a good thing, too. During training, we spent a lot of time on perfecting our closing technique and not enough on getting a better grip on our prospects’ needs.
The heavy lifting for today’s post has been done by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing in his article “Marketing is the New Selling.” He contends that the separation between marketing and sales—marketing owns the message and sales owns the relationship—has blurred and that sales people need to think more like marketers than ever before. Prospects, as he puts it “have access to mounds of information, have tools to deflect unwanted sales messages and have the ability to freely publish both flattering and unflattering information about the companies with whom they choose to do business.”
Sales has never been an easy game, and now it requires skilled professionals who must connect with prospects as something other than pitchmen. According to Jantsch, the salesperson now needs to understand:
- Listening ‒ With social media and listening tools, alert salespeople can get a lot of information about what their prospects want and need and what they don’t like. For Jantsch, listening is the new prospecting.
- Educating ‒ Rather than pitching, salespeople can spread knowledge via blogs, tweet, and online / offline seminars. Yup, it’s a lot of work, but it builds credibility. Educating is the new pitching.
- Offering insight ‒ This is all about helping prospects wade through and interpret the seemingly unending information disseminated by a company, its competitors, and end users.
- Telling the story ‒ As Jantsch points out, smart salespeople help prospects see themselves in a “leading role in a world where their problems and challenges are a thing of the past.”
- Relationship building ‒ Blend it with education. This “makes traditional closing tactics a thing of the past.” It’s the new closing.
Read this article. If you’re not in sales, it will give you a new appreciation of the tough job salespeople do. And if you have no other reason to like Mr. Jantsch, check out the wonderful Alec Baldwin speech from Glengarry Glen Ross that he’s included in his post.
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