Head Em' Up, Move Em' Out

I’ve focused recently on the importance of changing the legacy that the sales profession, in whatever form it has taken, has passed down to us. I was going to shift gears a bit this week but after a recent conversation with an upper level manager about training materials and sales philosophy, I’m going to give it one more shot. Keep in mind this person was not an employee of an obscure company holding onto the last of the old-school sales ideologies. He was in a promient and influencial position in a leading corporation. The teachings of the old school are alive and well. This corporation is propagating the same techniques and tactics to their producers that brought us the legacy I’ve spoken about in the last few articles. It is the one where sales people are some of the most avoided and disliked of all professional people. I’ve borrowed a piece from You Tube to illustrate my point. I’ve provided a link to it in this article. Someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words. This is so very true about this video as well. 

I’ll say one more thing before turning this article over to the You Tube world. Folks, the sales experience is not about herding cattle. Unfortunately this is the image I got after the conversation I spoke about. I’m not certain how our sales ancestors decided that manipulation, brute force, and dishonesty were to be the prevailing psychology for selling something to human beings. Regardless, we’re paying dearly for it today and so are the people we offer our products to.

What these ‘ancestors’ did and what too many continue to do today is treat human beings as a commodity. They are tick marks on quota sheets, statistical data used to predict trends and drive sales psychology, email addresses in a database, and they are ‘resources’ used to mine referrals and appointments so our industry can apply the same robotic techniques to their friends and family. By seeing human beings this way we can mistreat them, bully and manipulate them, because they are different from us. In some circles this practice is called dehumanization. If you wouldn’t apply these tactics to your friends and family, how and why can you do so with your prospects and clients? Why are they different?

I’d like you to pay particular attention to the woman in this video. The sales man will look and sound all too familiar. Listen to what she’s trying to get across. She has changed and wants to be recognized and ‘seen’ for who she is. She wants a relationship that is real and honest instead of something created by the current corporate sales paradigm. The folks you face each day are gaining the same awareness. They can hear and feel manipulation and they don’t like it. We all have a ‘gate keeper’ and they are becoming more astute and vigilant. Let’s all use our creativity and sensitivity to step up to this important change in the people we serve and remove the yoke of this debilitating legacy. Enjoy the video.