Here’s an interesting post by Jessica Stillman, Is Sales a Lost Art? This post is about an article written by Grant Cardone, an entrepreneur and author of Sell to Survive, in which he argues that the recession is bringing to light a long brewing crisis in salesmanship:
Cardone, as a sales professional, has a unique take on the current economic mess; he sees it not through the lens of screw-ups in finance, but instead asks how the sales department contributed to the mess. His answer: what sales department?
According to Cardone, selling is an art form in decline.
In the 50s, 60s and 70s, virtually every company had a sales force that were required and depended on things like; prospecting- the creation of customers, product knowledge, application knowledge and selling skills. Great companies were built on great sales teams who were responsible for creating opportunities not for just selling them…. In the 90s sales teams were deemed to expensive to maintain, inefficient, difficult to manage and the responsibility for driving revenues shifted to the marketing department. The theory was that the company could create demand for products and services through advertising, promotion and gimmicks then the company could merely harvest the flood of incoming orders with call centers or order desks.
So what’s Cardone’s problem with this shift from active sales to a focus on marketing? In brief, how to deal with a situation like the one we’re currently in when tough economic times make customers largely immune to marketing and the call centers are filled with a depressing silence. Companies like WaMu, Sears and Circuit City, according to Cardone, grew too dependent on marketing and “marketing without a trained sales team is a ‘one way’ vehicle, causing the company to only activate at the point of marketing and then become passive at the point of creating an opportunity.” If the customers don’t come to you, there’s no one left to go out there and round some up, leading Cardone to conclude with a rousing call for a return to sales fundamentals.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great piece! You nailed it.
-Adam
Also lost, due to the same thinking, that the customer will come to us, are customer relationships. Being pleasant to customers and building a relationship with them are two different things.
While I agree that most organizations could use the skills that came along with a traditional sales force like listening, taloring an offering based on customer needs, and plesent persistance until the sale was closed. However, this observation that failing companies have abandoned the “Art of Sell” does not ring true to me.
His example of Circuit City and Wal-Mu over reliance on marketing as a source of failure is off a bit. Failue in these or has more to do with how poor the customers experience was once they were engaged, not that a sales person couldn’t close the deal. Customers today do not want to deal with “sales people” at retail any more, and the poor execution of a “Always Be Closing” sales force is what put Circuit City in the tank to start with. Alienating the customers from the stores and sending them to more safe places to shop in peace, like online and low pressure sales organizations like Best Buy, and the warehouse clubs.
If this observation was true companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, an Sams Club would be be the ones struggleing, but they are the ones winning in the marketplace today and all the car dealers, high end consumer electronic stores are the ones in the dumper.
The customers are changing and the last thing folks want is a sales person that just got done with learning his 31 Closing Techniques from Tommy Hopkins. Or fresh from his stint at Glenn Gary Glenn Ross asking them if they want to buy a service contract with their $699 32 inch big screen.
Customers have changed and the orgranizaitons that are tuned into what these customers want and help them make a purchase are going to the the suvivors on these most diffucult times.