Behavior Hurts The Industry

Another thead prompted this one. Books, movies, headlines, etc. can all hurt or help an industry BUT on-the-job behavior has the biggest impact on an industry reputation.

Today I ran into another glib, quick-to-over-come objections, sincere to want a close, fast with the answers salesman. After I gave him well documentated and related information, my detailed experiences, and why I had the opinion I had, he still continued to come back with clever sales retorts so he thought.

Never once did he concede that I had made some valid points and that maybe what he was offering wasn't in my best interest. That tells me that either he genuinely believes everything he said to me and believes what he offers is in my best interest OR he can't discern the difference.

Other options I won't discuss only to say that sales behavior has the greatest potential negative impact on the public perception of sales.

In that regard, my job is to be the best example of a salesman I can be so that sale or no sale, the other person walking away knows there was honesty, trust, and respect.

I believe this is a forum that can encourage and foster this kind of behavior and make a positive impact on the sales profession for the greater good of everyone.

MitchM

Perception is the issue.

It is unclear as to what the greatest factors are that influence perception amongst sales people and of sales people.

I beleive one of the greatest influencers are our role models, and our parents are our first major role models (unless you are an orphan or raised by grandparents). Their wisdoms or lack of them are greater even than our own experiences to some degree because they shape us for like two decades before we start forming opinions entirely on our own and even then we are influenced by what our parents thought because that was our make-up.

That is why I do not like negative motivation to sell books and tapes. As that can potentially forward thinking through generations.

To me, it is the influencers in our lives that are the most likely to cause damage (and good), followed then by our own experiences, which are made up from people we meet and what we hear, see and read.

Sales people's behaviour, the ones who are not well trained, is part of the issue. But it could have been, for example (and I am just making this up), Mitch's parent's experience with sales people that formed his initial opinions and then what he has read and who he has met since only acted to strengthen those beliefs.

My school of sales training is different than Mitch's. However, we agree with what Mitch says in that we do not try to close unless we are certain that there is a serious need. We do close because we know that there are certain personality types with which this is important to do but only AFTER you have asked the questions to uncover that there are serious needs and shown how your product or service does satisfy each of them.

On a side note - there are other personality types where the close is a non event when you do your job right. Again, this is within a certain school of thought.

Clearly, it appears the experience Mitch had here was with a poorly trained sales person.

I feel the need to recap; I must say, in my opinion, just as much negative influence exists from what you see on TV, what you read and your own experiences. Perhaps even more comes from your parents (who may or may not have been trusting of sales people).

What I beleive comes through from this thread is there is a serious need for good training. Those who are "slick" do not get the business as often and, even more criminal, they also put off people, as happened to Mitch today. Perhaps Mitch, you will agree, the moral is not so much that sales people cause harm as untrained sales people cause harm.

Any so-called system that teaches closing without establishing a solid reason or reasons why the buyer should buy to me is turning out people so poorly trained they might as well be considered untrained sales people. And we all know a little information is a dangerous thing.

If you follow SPIN or PSS - two very different training programs I might add - you will see there is an exception to this rule, though a rare one. That is the "unresponsive" or "indifferent" and taciturn" individual. But this is very advanced so I will not bother to explain it. Just know as an interesting fact that these two schools both agree to only that exception, which rarely comes up.

You've told a good story of human behavior cause and effect, GC. "the moral is not so much that sales people cause harm as untrained sales people cause harm." -- GC That's a conclusion I can agree with - it's true in anything.

Long ago I began challenging perceptions from the past - it's been a life long discipline - and I can see that early life cause with later life experiences having the effect of validating a habit of thinking. Psychologists know that happens all the time - it happens on this forum all the time.

What I don't know is what you mean by my school of training - that's has me confused - unless you relate it to the story you tell of Mitch growing up.

Teaching high school kids, I met those who were taught to mistrust police and they found validation in rare and limited negative experiences which they used to further their mistrust of police - the same point you make, GC.

Thought provoking post, GC.

MitchM

If you were using a technique in marketing to reach a very high number of sales people, then a negative title will cause a lot more damage than one sales person who is poorly trained.

This is because it will reach tens of thousands in weeks while an individual may only make 200 sales calls a year.

This very site reaches about 150 to 200 unique and new sales people a day. Sure, less than 50 may sign up but there are many viewers, which is why this site and the few others like it are so important to the industry.

Statistics show that very few post. Less post than sign up and there are readers who look and don't sign up. We know this is true because the software at websites tracks clicks, the pages they went to and whether they signed up.

So, while Mitch is totally on point about the damage caused by sales people, there is a great deal of sales influences that cause damage too, in print and online. And these are within our industry.

One poorly trained sales person times tens of hundreds of them - that would have the same negative effect of a book title, don't you think?

MitchM

Yes, I do think.

That is why I stated that the issue after perception is training.

However, the situation is not doom and gloom. There are many good sales people.

In addition, one form of training is books. You yourself many times int his forum have stated your school of thought on sales came from a book. What if you values about sales came from a book that was bad?

One salesman will not make as much of a difference to our profession as one book with a title that paints us in a bad image. That was my point on numbers.

"What if your values about sales came from a book that was bad? - GC

That would be bad if I believed them. Many did and the books had reasonable titles written from well known people - many had many good ideas also BUT things that don't work well today.

My values about sales come from a comparative study of many books along with the ones I respect the most for the selling values they promote and what I've been taught in my business from the man who sponsored me eleven years ago.

So the sum of my values is from many sources as is the case for many people, GC.

Poor salesman behavior has the greatest negative or positive impact on how buyers go into buying situations - and our perceptions come from many sources. What you say - GC - that poor training is a big negative producing component of public perception is true.

MitchM

Mitch, please, I was not writing about you personally.

Values in people are well understood. And they are not a static thing, it is definitely a moving target. All our values change all the time, however subtlety. They are created in us through role models, starting with your parents, then the heros and/or anti-heroes in our lives, our peer group and our own experiences (people we meet, advertising, movies, TV and so on) - all outside input with the majority not being first hand!

And the above is not my opinion. There are very well respected research studies into human behaviour that clearly prove these factors to be valid. If need be I can dredge them up but I make reference to one such below.

As professional sales people we need to understand the people we are dealing with, therefore we need a knowledge in the area of human study or psychology as well as many other things. We need to think like entrepreneurs, accountants and sales trainers as well as all manner of professionals and non professionals to be able to address all the needs of our varied clients. We also need to understand their business, again, not everything they know but enough to talk with them.

We need to know personality types.

As for sales behaviour and where buyer reluctance starts, it is VALUES. However, there definitely is far more to it than personal expereinces with sales people or else sales reluctance would not be present in sales people when they buy, which it is.

Human values are affected by literature, movies, advertising, peer groups ... everything we see, hear, touch, say ... and most certainly our parents or other's parents, as I hope you will see from my post.

It is not possible to nail down all the contributing facotrs of what causes sales people to be seen negatively. Take the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross, it portrayed sales people in a poor light, very poor.

If you (and the word YOU is not you personally Mitch) start there as your point of grasping what sales people are like you would most likely have a bad experience with a sales person even if they were not poor in practice, due to a preconceived notion. If you now experienced a poorly trained sales person you might go through life thinking we are all bad, with your guard up, which is so far from true, it is ridiculous, but this happens every day.

If this image began because as a child a sales man came to the door and dealt with your dad and he spoke mostly under his breath to your Mom after the guy left, thinking you could not hear, saying "I hate salesmen!" Your image is set, your values grow from that learning point on.

Even as teenagers discover the faults of their parents, many act badly for a few years because their perfect image is shattered. Nonetheless their parent's values are ingrained though they do not realize it. They may tell a friend or think to themselves; "I am never going to be like my dad." And they may even succeed in modifing their behaviour but years later, when another salesman is leaving, they too may say under their breath; "I hate salesman!"

I am not saying this happens in every family. Other things happen. Like in college when a person says to a friend they are thinking about going into insurance and the friend says (maybe cause their dad said "I hate salesman" and/or they watched the aforementioned movie) "Ewww, I would not want to be a salesman!" This peer pressure may kick that undecided mind away from our industry. There are many ways the perception starts, but there is no way to be sure what the major role in it is. As that expereince, the one that influences VALUES, may be several things, parental values, peer-group values, the values of a movie maker (Glengarry Glen Ross) and/or our own expereinces.

None of us can even necessarily think back into our own lives and reason out why we feel the way we do about many things. we know what comes to mind but not what started it originally. Mitch, it appears your own impressions started before you got into sales but it may be farther back than you are aware of.

It is just not that simple.

If you do want to understand human values, for goodness sake, buy a copy of "Back to the Future in sales". The original work of J. Douglas Edwards with Tom Hopkins is nothing short of brilliant. 'Doug' had a friend who was a renowned psychologist, whose work was ground breaking. No need to listen to the "practice" part (I would If I were you but ...), if all you do is hear the the VALUES part, about 45 minutes to an hour long, the way you think about prospects and yourself will be changed forever. So will your sales results.

YOU, again, is talking to any reader, not one specific reader. And this disclaimer involves every thread I participate in (as much as is humanly possible).

I have been studying sales since 1977. I am a student of our great profession and it is my opinion that the work on vales by the friend of 'Doug' is the best ever done. And that the best sales training that explains it to us is that of Doug, either this original 78 LP's or the re-released version mentioned already.

Remember, VALUES are the result of influence by outside factors, that is why they are always modifying. The beginning with everyone who had parents is their parents values. This is undeniable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MitchM

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Poor salesman behavior has the greatest negative or positive impact on how buyers go into buying situations
MitchM

I don't think that's true at all, MitchM. I think great salesperson behavior has the greatest positive impact on how buyers go into buying situations! Everybody (I think!) has had great experiences with salespeople.

People know that most salespeople are decent people and are willing to give them a chance. Some prospects won't, but most individuals will give salespeople a fair shake without an overwhelming sense of fear.

Skip Anderson

I know none of us personalize every YOU and we also address each other personally and generically from time to time and combined - we know these are opinions we express - that's not an issue with me ever.

AND we have out theories and experiences and opinions and reference this or that authority from time to time to validate our opinions - just human nature.

Poor salesman behavior has the greatest negative or positive impact on how buyers go into buying situations - my statement. I should have not put in there "or positive" my mistake.

MitchM

Behavior Hurts The Industry

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