Get Real….REALLY
I was watching a sales training infomercial at 5:30 AM yesterday and have to share. First, I must commend the author for recognizing the need for sales training to be part of the ever-growing infomercial programming found on cable TV and local access channels. With all of the get-rich-no-money-down-don’t-have-to-sell-anything-systems floating around your boob tube in the wee hours of the morning, it’s nice to find one that actually has some real application.
HOWEVER
The content in this infomercial was so FAKE I almost threw my TV down my laundry chute. Enough already. SALESPEOPLE……….LISTEN TO ME…………..
STOP BEING FAKE!
There is an epidemic of manipulative phrases, slick-tongued words and bullet-proof closing moves plaguing today’s sales trainers and amateur salespeople. I don’t get it. Sales training hasn’t evolved for 25 years. We seem to be stuck in the same old…..”gotta ask for the business” …..”always be closing” ……mode that our grandparents invented. Maybe we should go back to rotary phones and typewriters while we’re at it.
Look: Let’s all agree that if we were all just real – just who we are – and if we all just tried to help our prospects and get out of the way when we realize we can’t help….we’d all sell A LOT more stuff and make a lot more money.
Get Real….REALLY…..be yourself. ….no one wants to buy from a fake.
There will always be a place for someone who believes strongly about a particular product.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/07/hard_sell_at_th.html
What you saw (IMHO) was the “old School” game and the “old rules” vs what you wrote about in your excellent book (Same Game New Rules).
“get out of the way when we realize we can’t help…”
Realizing that you can’t help a prospect means understanding what your firm can and can’t do. Some CEOs fall short in defining what it is his/her firm REALLY does, and some salespeople fall short by going after “anything that moves” rather than truly understanding who their target audience is and pursuing them.