Unfortunately because it is hard to quantify it doesn't go into the hiring process and there are a lot of salespeople out there that are lacking it.
Instead, most firms look for people that represent the stereotype of sales - people who are pushy, outspoken, or my personal favorite - "motivated by money"
Once companies have their sales force in place, they have to train them. Combine the large number of salespeople out there with the lack of a fundamental agreement on what makes a successful salesperson and you have a natural result; a large and diverse industry selling every kind of training for sales.
I have been exposed to a number of sales training programs and have found one common trait to all of them - they are built to reach the "lowest common denominator" and deliver tools so that anyone can fake empathy and influence. For the most part, they use themes that look a lot like these:
- How to convince people you care about them personally
- How to pretend to be just like your prospect
- Outward appearance is more important than substance
- Train yourself to ignore any message you don't want to receive
All of this is designed to take basically anyone and turn them into a bothersome "salesperson" who simply pushes ahead under the delusion that they can become a jedi master who can bend others to their will using advances selling techniques.
It's a bunch of crap.
I have made some very large sales in my career and I never convinced anyone, especially a large organization to do anything. I simply put in the time and work to thoroughly understand the story behind my company and what made them special and effectively communicated that story to people who I learned (again through time and effort) might have a need for those services.
If you want more successful sales, take the time to find people who understand this.
Selling is about communicating a story, and not everyone is a good storyteller. Teaching everyone in a room to sell is as pointless as trying to teach everyone in a room to be funny. Yes you can develop talent, but there has to be talent there to begin with. Otherwise you waste time and money training at the lowest common denominator and water down the talented while wasting time with the untalented.
- How to convince people you care about them personally
- How to pretend to be just like your prospect
- Outward appearance is more important than substance
- Train yourself to ignore any message you don't want to receive
All of this is designed to take basically anyone and turn them into a bothersome "salesperson" who simply pushes ahead under the delusion that they can become a jedi master who can bend others to their will using advances selling techniques.
It's a bunch of crap.
I have made some very large sales in my career and I never convinced anyone, especially a large organization to do anything. I simply put in the time and work to thoroughly understand the story behind my company and what made them special and effectively communicated that story to people who I learned (again through time and effort) might have a need for those services.
If you want more successful sales, take the time to find people who understand this.
Selling is about communicating a story, and not everyone is a good storyteller. Teaching everyone in a room to sell is as pointless as trying to teach everyone in a room to be funny. Yes you can develop talent, but there has to be talent there to begin with. Otherwise you waste time and money training at the lowest common denominator and water down the talented while wasting time with the untalented.
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