OK. What the heck is BACk? A misspelling? No, it’s an acronym for “Be A Customer”. It’s great to know your product, your competition, and your industry. You may even know quite a bit about your customer and her business, but can you think like her? Can you empathize with what challenges she’s dealing with and anticipate how she may react to you or what you offer? That’s what thinking BACk is all about and when you do so, you begin to realize how silly some of our beliefs and tactics are in the sales profession.
Think BACk to a time when someone forced you to buy something. Come on now! Dig deep! No, that last succulent dessert you just had doesn’t count. The best example I can come up with is insurance. There no mortgages to be found on uninsured homes and driving without car insurance is against the law. Still, in these instances I at least had a choice of what vendor to use. Can you admit that no one forced you to buy the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, or virtually anything else?
Technology has informed customers in ways not possible just 20 years ago. At the same time, the ancient-yet-relevant philosophy of Stoicism has made it’s way into to popular business books. These two seemingly unrelated forces are combining to change the way we, as sales people, should look at our jobs.
Can you remember a time when you needed a salesman to help you buy a computer? Heck, I might have sold you one! Retail computer buyers back in the 80’s and 90’s often didn’t know what they wanted, what they needed, or even where to start. They would slowly wander up to the electronics display, in the department store where I worked, and stare at the price tags. At the time, my goal was to entice them into a conversation about what they needed to do with a computer. Inevitably, I could then display my superior knowledge to them. This would often result in a sale because I had information they didn’t have when they walked in the door. They needed the help of someone like me in order to make a decision. Today, computers are bought online or in stores with minimal, if any intervention needed from a sales person.
Daniel Pink, in his insightful book “To Sell Is Human”, cites the availability of information as creating more of a level playing field between sales people and customers. To this day, most retail workers expect to get blown off when they ask the traditional “May I Help You?” The difference from when I was in retail in the 1990’s is that now, the customer often is not lying. They DON’T need our help.
If you think this change doesn’t apply to B-to-B, think again. Do you find yourself being brought in later and later in the decision-making process? If so, it’s because they don’t perceive a need for your “expertise”. No one wants their time wasted by someone telling them what they already know. Don’t take it personally. It’s just a fact of life! Today, I find myself selling the added-value of what I do for my customers just as much as my product itself. Sure, there are times when they think they don’t need our help and they actually do. That’s why we have jobs. Regardless of who we THINK has the leverage in any sales situation, there is (and some would argue always has been) one person in charge of the customer’s decision process – the customer.
Thinking back to your house, car, or any other major purchase you’ve made, who is ultimately responsible for making your payments? You, of course. The bank doesn’t care how friendly, how knowledgeable, or how sly your sales person was. The choice to buy the house was, and continues to be, on you. In the corporate world, I’ve seen executives lose their jobs over bad choices with vendors. Once, when I sold software, I had an exec blow up in anger over a price negotiation. Yes, I did eventually close the sale, but soon thereafter the exec was working for a new company.
Just as access to information is giving customers the ability to make better decisions, we are realizing the power to decide may have always been theirs alone. The Stoic philosophers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius wrote about the power of choice. All any of us control is our ability to make choices. We choose not only what to do but how to feel. Your customer does the same. At our absolute best, we are merely influencing our customer’s decision. Ryan Holiday has written two excellent books: “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy” that very nicely summarize Stoicism into a modern-day context.
Of course, in sales, we take credit for as much good news as possible. The bad news is that when we do this, due to customer free will, we lie to ourselves. The customer made the buying decision – not us. Again, think like a customer, not a sales person. You likely researched the last car you bought by looking at reviews, blue book values, and CarFax reports. In doing so, you essentially sold it to yourself. Ironically, as you pulled out of the parking lot, the sales person probably bragged about how he “closed” you.
When our sales are down, things get a little more complicated. We may cite all the factors out of our control to the boss. All the while, we feel the shame of not seizing control like we were taught in sales training. The good news? Due to customer free will, we are rarely fully responsible for our bad numbers either. Can you improve your craft and therefore your results? Along with all the rest of us, yes! Just don’t expect to ever be able to quantify that improvement ahead of time. Does the perfect sales presentation ever guarantee a sale will be made? Only one person knows the answer. Your customer.
Regards,
Meaning2work