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No One Likes To Admit They Don’t Know – Why You Should Love Sales People

We don’t know, what we don’t know and this is why good sales people are invaluable.

We buy things to be more productive, gain a competitive edge, play golf better, sell more stuff, serve customers better, or save money. We buy stuff to make our world better. The problem is we don’t always know what could make our world better. That is why sales people are so important. They help us know what we don’t know.

Selling to us is hard because we dig in. We operate from the idea that we already know it all. We are resistant to sales calls. We avoid sales people when they walk up to us. We tell them we are all set, before we let them talk. We build a giant wall, difficult for sales people to climb. We feel good about it. We feel like we are winning. But are we?

What is it worth to find a faster, cheaper way to make your widget. What’s it worth to make your sales team more productive? What’s it worth to get rid of that nasty slice? What’s it worth to gain on your competitor? There is always a better way, a better product, an innovative solution. Finding it is the difference between success and failure.

The bigger the wall you build, the harder to improve; to find faster, better, cheaper. Sales people know what you don’t know.

Lower the wall, make sales people spend more time focusing on your problems and less time getting to you. You will be the winner in the end.

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  • http://jeffreymonaghan.wordpress.com/ Jeff Monaghan

    Jim,
    I am going to challenge you on this one. I believe you described the role of sales about 10 years ago, but not so much today. And the reason is the Internet. Sure, there are some really good sales people that are a tremendous asset to the buying process and buying decision but more and more decisions are being made well before the buyer even contacts the company. In fact, the first contact is often the interest to buy. Buyers use the Internet and their social networks to research competitors, customer satisfaction, quality, etc. well before contact with a company is even made. This has made the role of sales person that much more challenging. All this of course depends a lot on the product or service the buyer is purchasing, but I would venture to guess that every industry has had to deal with this shift to a certain degree.

    Jeff

  • http://asalesguy.com Keenan

    I think you are right in some less complex sales and in B2C. However, there is just too much complexity and innovation out there for companies to do it themselves. Enterprise 2.0 is a perfect example. Most enterprises don't even realize companies like Gist, Yammer, SocialText ect. exist, nevermind what they do.

    Things are moving fast and sales people can reduce the learning curve and exposure.

  • http://jeffreymonaghan.wordpress.com/ Jeff Monaghan

    Jim,
    I am going to challenge you on this one. I believe you described the role of sales about 10 years ago, but not so much today. And the reason is the Internet. Sure, there are some really good sales people that are a tremendous asset to the buying process and buying decision but more and more decisions are being made well before the buyer even contacts the company. In fact, the first contact is often the interest to buy. Buyers use the Internet and their social networks to research competitors, customer satisfaction, quality, etc. well before contact with a company is even made. This has made the role of sales person that much more challenging. All this of course depends a lot on the product or service the buyer is purchasing, but I would venture to guess that every industry has had to deal with this shift to a certain degree.

    Jeff

  • http://asalesguy.com Keenan

    I think you are right in some less complex sales and in B2C. However, there is just too much complexity and innovation out there for companies to do it themselves. Enterprise 2.0 is a perfect example. Most enterprises don't even realize companies like Gist, Yammer, SocialText ect. exist, nevermind what they do.

    Things are moving fast and sales people can reduce the learning curve and exposure.