Sales Blog with Sales Tips

Peggy (not her real name) recently submitted a sales career related question and asked me to answer it.

“I attain my sales goal almost every single month and have done so for many years. I told my boss during an annual review that money doesn’t motivate me that much. He couldn’t believe that anyone in sales would want to be in sales if they felt that way. Am I wrong to feel this way? I love sales, but money is not the main reason.”

Just because many, if not most, sales professionals say they are in it for the money doesn’t necessarily mean they really are. In some sales circles it would be considered politically incorrect to enjoy a sales career for anything other than compensation.

This kind of one-dimensional view of our sales careers can rob us of some of the joys of selling.

Lots of research has been done as to what motivates people at work and, surprisingly, compensation does not come in as number one in most of them. Furthermore, most studies of sales contests indicate that the majority of salespeople prefer tangible awards instead of money.

What motivators are there in a sales career other than money? They include, but are not limited to:

1. Ability to develop significant relationships inside and outside of our company.
2. Outside sales positions provide significant freedom and mobility.
3. Real feeling of accomplishment and contribution, and one that is measurable.
4. Develops personal confidence because we work for a very important department at our company while we simultaneously interface with important decision makers at our customers.

Peggy, I think it’s commendable that you are aware of what does and doesn’t motivate you. Everybody has different motivators and you appear to be tuned into them and obtain your sales budget on a regular basis as a result. I would urge your sales manager not to ruin the soup. Don’t question good results.

Sales can certainly be financially rewarding, but there are many other factors that can make it a fun and rewarding career. Carry on Peggy.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

There is a stealthy serial killer in sales that many of us aren’t even aware of. It can kill deals and inflict injury on our relationships with customers. It is most frequently found in quotes, emails and other customer correspondence.

What is this silent sales assassin? The offender is the incorrect spelling of a customer’s name or getting their title wrong.

It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is a big deal to our customers. Dale Carnegie said that a person’s name is music to their ears. We love hearing our own name and our customers are no exception. People are also very proud of their titles and usually have worked hard to earn them. They want their name spelled correctly. They want their title stated accurately.

When we get a customer’s name or title wrong it communicates three not-so-good things.

1. It reinforces a negative, and incorrect, stereotype of salespeople. We don’t want our customers to perceive us as slap-you-on-the-back carnival barkers.
2. It communicates that we really don’t care that much about their business or about them as individuals. It doesn’t get any more personal than a person’s name or title.
3. It announces to the customer that we’re not too worried about details. If we can’t get their name or title correct, how persnickety are we going to be about other important aspects of the sale?

The larger and more complex a sales transaction becomes, the more the customer will view these kinds of mistakes as potentially fatal to the relationship.

While customers may not mention that we got their name or title wrong, rest assured that they have noticed and will not be impressed. We have to be careful not to think that their silence indicates this issue is not important to them. It is.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

There is most assuredly a chemical component to the salesperson-customer relationship. I like to call that bit of chemistry a salesperson’s “vibe.”

It can work for and against the sales professional.

We’ve all had days when every prospect and customer we touch turns to gold. I’m talking about those times when we almost become annoyed at the number of prospects and customers that are calling us to place large orders. It’s wonderful, but always temporary.

When we’re in the good “vibe” zone our positive “vibes” seem to gain momentum. We know that the next customer contact is going to yield even more gold. We have a good “vibe” going.

However, there are also days where we couldn’t sell a life preserver to a drowning man. We feel like we could quite literally give our products and services away and people wouldn’t be interested.

During those times nothing we do seems to work. Customers and prospects see us coming and head for the hills. They seem to have an early warning system. We have a bad “vibe” going.

When our “vibe” is good we must be sure to prospect, up-sell and cross-sell as much as we can. The “vibe” will end and we want to use it for all it’s worth.

For those times when we have developed a bad “vibe” we might want to consider calling it a day. My theory is, why ruin any more opportunities? I’m talking about a rare occurrence here by the way. If we’re getting a bad “vibe” more than once every quarter then we probably have other issues that need to be addressed.

What is this “vibe” that haunts and helps us? Is it confidence? Is it good luck? Is it the alignment of the planets? Is it God? No one knows. But rest assured that there is a “vibe” in sales and it makes the selling profession fun and mysterious. Learn to recognize and respond to it.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer