Hucksters Need Not Apply

Since the mission of a company’s sales force is to drive top-line revenue to new heights, it needs to do the unorthodox – not act like a bunch of hucksters. Instead, it should focus on building relationships, keeping conversations with prospects and customers sincere.

“People with an Unsold Mindset [sic.] use a different playbook,” Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown, two entrepreneurs and University of Southern California business school instructors, write in “The Unsold Mindset: Redefining What It Means To Sell.” “They know that in the long run, they’ll succeed if they stay real. And being real matters to them; they’ve realized that it is enormously rewarding to show up as the person we really are, in any situation.”

In more than 200 pages, the authors provide examples of how this approach – asking questions and establishing more collegial relationships with prospects – leads to more sales. Salespeople are perceived as manipulative and phony, the authors say, and remaining that way won’t help them.

“Sales is about connection through communication, and that connection shouldn’t be any less genuine than when you’re spending time with your friends at happy hour,” they write.

It’s long been a tradition for salespeople to know their products inside and out. But do they need to know it down to the last nail and screw? 

Consider Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. Army general commanding U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan until being relieved by President Obama. The general told the authors it isn’t necessary for military leaders, any more than for salespeople, to know every detail.

The leader’s role is to make the organization work, McChrystal said. They don’t need to have all the answers, even when the stakes are high. But the organization, and thus, their underlings, do.

As the sales manager of one of Audi’s dealerships says, it’s no more imperative for their salespeople to know their cars’ engineering details than the financing to buy one.

“’We don’t require our sales reps to become experts on our financing process,’” said Chuck Ueno. “’Doing this allows our salespeople to specialize in getting to know their customers … understanding them, teaching them about the things they know the most about, and guiding them through the buying process, by getting them to the best possible resources available.’”

The authors call this approach “intentional ignorance,” saying it keeps the sales force fresh.

Kevin Williams, a medical device salesperson, didn’t know much about the products he was selling initially, saying it allowed him to ask questions to learn his customers’ perspective of what he was selling.

“’When you ask a doctor or nurse for advice and they give it to you even though they don’t have to, it means they respected that you asked. I’m always so grateful for their feedback, and I make sure they know it. I think a big part of why I’m a high performer to this day is because I spend most of my time asking for advice,’” Williams told the authors.

Authentic conversations, say the authors, allows salespeople to have fun and, more importantly, fosters genuine engagement.
As evidence, they write about two people who took very different approaches to their sales jobs. One memorized a script to “confidentially engage with prospects,” while the other ad-libbed, often laughing while speaking with prospects. 

In time, the one who memorized the script fell behind, but the other built relationships and, as a result, strong sales numbers, some of it because when he didn’t have the answer to a prospect’s question, he asked someone in his company who did. 

“He stayed fresh and eventually got promoted,” the authors note.

We implemented a similar approach during my tenure at newspaper syndicate Tribune Media Services, when famed Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko died. To replace him, we offered his clients Kathleen Parker, describing her as “Mike Royko in drag.” Newspaper editors enjoyed the humor, immediately understood her writing style, and the results speak for themselves: More than 300 newspapers bought her column.

As good as this book is, there are some astonishing omissions.

To make the book valuable to corporate officers, who may directly or indirectly manage their company’s sales force, they should have mentioned something that’s essential, and it comes from a leading sales management consultant, Andris Zoltners, and two of his colleagues, at ZS Associates: A company’s sales force is its most empowered group of employees. They can build up and sustain their company’s fortunes just as easily as they can ruin them. 

That means it’s critical senior management and front-line sales managers secure sales force buy-in for the products they’re offering. If the sales force doesn’t believe they’re unique or better than the competition’s – and they’re not enthusiastic about pitching them – they likely won’t sell well, potentially putting the company’s future at risk.

A sales force plays another vital role: Not only does it provide its company with a share of voice before the market it serves, it’s also the front-line intelligence operation, furnishing insight on competitors, learning why customers and prospects prefer their products or someone else’s.

It’s also surprising the authors didn’t interview any customers. Was their enthusiasm for their collegial approach as ardent as the authors? There’s more to sales than just closing the deal. It’s the relationship. Was it improved through this technique?

The days of only joke telling and back slapping to make a sale are long gone. And while this book shows corporate leaders what it takes to succeed in sales today, anyone with sales experience, certainly in the last 30 years, will find it dated.

The best salespeople take a consultative approach with their clients. Their success is based on creating and maintaining great relationships with customers and prospects and, as a result, they don’t act like peddlers in search of a quick commission. They know something else – customers and prospects judge them on their integrity. 
 
Douglas Page was the sales manager and the sales director, domestic syndication for Tribune Media Services from 1996 – 2005. He is also an associate editor of SD METRO Magazine.