Sales Pro vs. Trusted Adviser

As part of my job as editor in chief of PHONE+, I spend a lot of time talking to partners and vendors (and sometimes customers) about technology. But I also spend a lot of time thinking about sales. Probably not as much as you do, but I do so a fair amount — particularly for someone in a non-sales role. Scratch that. Really, there are few of us in business today who are in non-sales roles. Certainly, those who are customer-facing have a part to play in selling even if they aren’t the ones asking for the signature on the contract. But even internally it seems we are doing a lot of “selling” either up, down or across our organizations in order to get the things we need to do our jobs. Some people call this “managing.” I call it “advocacy,” but in many ways it’s a lot like selling.

I mean no disrespect to the sales pros pounding the pavement and the phones; that is a job I have not done and likely would perform with lackluster result. But I think there is quite possibly as much transformation occurring in the sales front as there is on the technology front.

One of the sales bloggers I regularly turn to is Geoffrey James, author of BNET’s Sales Machine. In an April 20 post, he discusses the characteristics of The Salesperson of the Future. I was surprised to find that several of these qualities — culled from interviews with experts — described someone more like me than the stereotypical salesman. James and his sources predicted the salesperson of the future will be:

• an interested introvert rather than an interesting extrovert
• a collaborator rather than a communicator
• a negotiator rather than a convincer
• an expert rather than a generalist 
• a sales professional (e.g., trained) rather than an amateur

I wonder (as did one of James’ readers) whether this “softer selling” approach can get the hard job of closing new business done, but I can see its value in our industry, where complex technologies require a consultative approach. In fact, I would bet that a number of you already are (or employ) this person because your product set and target customer demand it.

Really, the qualities of this new “sales pro” ensure the customer remains at the center of the process and begins the relationship with a foundation of trust. And, they slam the door on the order-takers, who in my opinion are not long for a career in high-tech sales. Transactional business has its place, sure, but there’s probably not a lot of call for it to use up human capital of which there seems to be a never-ending shortage. Automating these deals to the greatest extent possible is key. The talent must be focused on identifying opportunities, assessing customer needs and applying technological solutions.

Indirect sales channels have a leg up over direct channels in being able to meet these needs if only by virtue of representing multiple vendors. But that advantage can fade if customers discover it’s only skin deep. A large vendor list – like a winning smile and affable demeanor – will only get you so far. The salesperson of the future will be the trusted adviser.