If you are completely satisfied with your team’s sales performance, there is no reason to read the rest of this article. However, if you believe in improvement and better results, then give this your consideration.
Over the last many years, when I “talk shop” with a salesperson about various aspects of sales psychology and sales process, I often see their eyes glaze over. They react like I am speaking in a foreign language. I quickly realize that this salesperson does not have any knowledge of either subject. I am consistently finding a lack of basic sales training, which negatively impacts sales performance, hurts the company’s top-line revenue, and increases customer acquisition costs.
So, why is there is such a lack of knowledge of these essential sales areas? And what needs to happen to remedy this problem?
Sales psychology and sales process are critical elements to the science of selling. For example, compare sales psychology and sales process with a medical training equivalent. Doing so would liken sales psychology to biology and sales process to anatomy courses. Therefore, the sales process is the application of sales psychology. However, here are some questions to consider. Would you want to be treated by a doctor who had never taken biology or anatomy courses? Or would you want this doctor to work at your hospital? Would this doctor be any good? Or would this doctor be aimlessly drifting, trying to find solutions? This scenario is like salespeople who lack basic sales training; they are wandering around trying to figure things out.
There is a lack of sales psychology and sales process knowledge today among salespeople because most companies are not teaching it. If companies are not teaching their new salespeople these basics as part of their sales training curriculum, who is? Maybe the assumption is that candidates that are seeking a sales position already have the necessary skills, but let me assure you, in most cases, they do not. Most companies’ sales training focuses on its products, presentations, competition, marketing efforts, finding the customer’s needs, and solving their customer’s problem with its product or service. Another reason for the lack of basic sales knowledge among salespeople today is that selling is complicated. Sales is a science, which means that it is the systemized process of a field. When something is complicated, we all tend to take the “path of least resistance” or look for an easier way. We often decide to do something because it is the easiest thing to do – but it may not be the best. Learning sales psychology and sales process is similar, it takes effort, and if a salesperson is “getting by,” they may not want to work hard at mastering it. That is why it needs to be a required additional course within companies.
All salespeople should systematically learn sales psychology and sales process and work diligently on implementing these processes. When salespeople master these necessary skills, they are more efficient at their job and close significantly more prospects per presentation, and that is what counts.
Most salespeople will never reach their full potential without mastering these necessary sales skills. The best salespeople in the world are students of sales psychology and sales process. Just as a medical student is required to take Biology and Anatomy 101, salespeople need education of fundamental selling skills. Once a salesperson has a working knowledge of sales psychology and sales process, they will experience substantial improvement throughout their sales career.
