Prepare Your Salespeople For Human to Human interaction to Fix Sales Problems

I keep reading articles about the power of AI and Bots now handling transactions humans used to do. Will AI and Bots take over the role of salespeople today in your organization? Is this a sales problem we need to fix? …it depends

·     on the value your salespeople provide in each engagement

·     The Human to Human Skills your salespeople have

·     How customer centric your sales approach is

·     The mindset of your sellers

The realities are buyers are better informed than they have ever been due to the IOT. Studies indicate 70% of the buying process is over by the time a buyer contacts a salesperson. 22% of buyers today have already made their buying decision and are contacting sales to negotiate better terms of trade and the details of the purchase.

If the value your salespeople provide is transactional their role will be extinct in the next 5 years unless they adjust how they serve their customers.

Author Anita Neilson’s new book: Beat the Bots, How your humanity can future proof your tech sales career offers excellent insights on how sales must adapt. Salespeople today must develop their skills in human to human (HTH) skills not only survive and thrive, and they will be in high demand for years to come.

Let’s take a look at the salespeople who will become extinct if they do not adapt first.

Old school salespeople with commission breath doing and saying anything to make the sale and hit their numbers will disappear. It will not happen overnight but for those who fail to adapt to how buyers want to buy and need to buy today will have a slow and painful death.  Buyers have already voted and continue to vote every day. Buyers vote with their silence.

How easy is it to engage with a new prospect today? Most salespeople would agree it’s very difficult. You could tell yourself it’s because of headcount reductions at target organizations or how distracted buyers are with phone calls, email, texts and so on. However, a recent research study from Florida State shared two disturbing buyer statistics:

·      85% of buyers shared they expect salespeople today to connect what they sell to how it produces value for the customer…and less than 15% actually do today.

·     Buyers were asked in a typical one-hour meeting with salespeople how many minutes were actually valuable to you as the buyer? You ready? ….6! In a one-hour meeting on average buyers shared only 6 minutes were valuable to them.

Now can we understand why buyers are reluctant to meet with salespeople today.

If your sales team’s idea of selling is taking customer phone calls answering product feature and benefit questions, sharing ship dates and doing price overrides to winthe business the meteor is already headed for your company and your salespeople will be extinct in the next 5 years. If your salespeople cannot communicate your value and currently sell with a cost-plus price-based model Amazon will be stealing your customers in the next 3-5 years.

The reason I started my blog back in 2001, No Smoke and Mirrors was to promote a more customer centric ethical way for serving customers , not selling them. Customers have spoken they want authentic salespeople who deliver valuable insights in each interaction. They want and demand salespeople who act like trusted advisors and not commission junkies.

So, if that’s the salespeople at risk what kind of salespeople will thrive today and into the future?

The good news is the Anita shares a roadmap in her new book to help salespeople adapt and use a sales model based on human to human interactions between buyers and sellers. The author shares:

“Mastering human value begins with understanding the only thing that truly, consistently matters when it comes to winning B2B sales is the value created between the buyer and the seller”

The book Beat the Bots will help your salespeople learn how to adapt to any sales context based on using human to human interactions and human psychology. In my recent post on buyer biases we touched on human psychology however the author goes much deeper in this book to help her readers understand and apply what she shares.

Another quote from the author that caught my attention:

             “telling customers how we have helped other customers is not enough …ultimately customers what to know how you will help them.”

It is true buyers are busy and distracted. We have more people involved in buying decisions, the internet of things opened up access to competitors globally and sales cycles are taking longer to close. The harsh reality is far too many salespeople today cannot articulate the value their company provides.

The author shares a great deal of advice you can apply. Some of my favorites are:

·     The critical importance of personalization

·     Understand and be able to communicate your value is critical

·     Active listening and understanding your buyers, their challenges and the business of their business so you can provide valuable insights to add value is imperative

·     3 types of value (General, Company, and Personalized)

·     How psychology is at the heart of all sales

·     If you capture rational and emotional forces at work in your buyers’ minds you develop messages that resonate with them

One big takeaway I will always remember is the metaphor the author uses of how driving behavior change is like the story of the rider, the elephant and the path.

The rider relies on evidence, data, and analysis to pick the direction.

The elephant’s behavior is influenced by experiences and feelings. The fear of risk, loss and pain are huge in how the elephant makes decisions. Elephants hate change and like sameness.

We quickly see the conflict that goes on in most of our brains and based on the elephants’ size and power who do you think wins most of the time? Is it any surprise the status quo costs sellers more sales than competitors?

Why this metaphor is so powerful is every B2B sale I have ever made involved change.

·     Change the vendor partner

·     Change in process

·     Change in relationships

·     Change in pricing and terms

Our job today as modern salespeople is to shape the path strategically understanding both the rider and the elephant.

I highly recommend this book as a must read for your sales team!

Do your salespeople understand the role change plays in B2B sales today?

Are your salespeople skills in human to human interactions?

Do your salespeople understand buyer expectations today?

Are your salespeople trained to deliver messaging that creates a path and mitigates risk?