What's the difference between a Sales person and a Sales professional?

When I started my first proper sales job, I worked for two brothers who I thought were natural born sales people. They looked like what I thought sales people looked like, they dressed like sales people and drove top of the range cars. As a young 19 year old, they were everything I thought sales was. How wrong was I.

They inducted us into the company with a 6 week sales programme they co-wrote. This covered all the basics and some advanced areas of the sales process. We had theory, role plays, practice calls, we shadowed on real appointments and we had written tests at the end of every week. Looking back on this, it was impressive stuff but I had little to compare it against at the time. I built an impressive folder of sales material during that time.

I soon began to realise that the reason they seemed like natural sales people was because they were so well versed in their craft it came naturally to them. The best professionals in any field make their skill set look natural because they practice and develop their skills. They always had a book they were reading or listening to. They had tapes of courses on selling and were often meeting other sales professionals to swop ideas and learn more. They kept journals and notes on what worked. Crucially, they also loved sales. They loved the thrill of a good sale and couldn’t abide a dodgy sale.

Sales was an honest profession and done right it was a wonderful thing. Selling was a long term approach. I soon began to see and meet plenty of what I term ‘a sales person’. This is someone who is only interested in making a sale to gain commission. They’ll sell anyone anything, as long as it makes them a pound or two. They are in the churn and burn game. Sell quick and move on to the next mark. They learn the skill or script that makes them convert a high pressure sale and have no real care or concern about the customer.

The difference between a sales person and a sales professional is the attitude, training, values, and a love of serving customers over the long term.

The difference between a sales person and a sales professional is the attitude, training, values, and a love of serving customers over the long term. A sales person is the reason why sales has a negative image in many people’s eyes, as they know someone who has been ripped off and left high and dry by unscrupulous sales tactics. So when it comes to sales - aim to be a sales professional in order to serve your customers in the best way possible.

Start with an assessment of your sales skills, sales knowledge and how you can develop these to ensure that you are recognised for your skills. Sales is made easier and more natural as you develop the right skills. There are so many great books, podcasts, courses and webinars nowadays on sales. There’s still some awful ones as well, but thankfully customer reviews and common sense will normally steer you in the right direction.

Your sales skills will help in all areas of life so get practicing. The best sales skills don’t stand for much if you don’t believe in the product or service you’re involved with . Find a product or service you love and aim to be a sales professional and you’ll have a great time working.

Know+Do run several sales courses to help people fall in love with sales done right. If you’d like to have a chat get in touch via andrew@knowanddo.com or fill in the form below. In the meantime, happy selling.

REFRESH YOUR SALES STRATEGY - new training programme.

This new online (4 x 3 hours) FULLY FUNDED* sales training programme will offer you an opportunity to take stock, review and where needed, reset your current sales approach and strategy. It’s been designed to help businesses build back post-pandemic.

Markets, trading conditions and approaches to marketing and sales have significantly changed in many sectors due to the global pandemic. As the world begins to look at re-opening, what does this now mean for your approach to sales?

The sales support programme will help to take a holistic look at the impact of the last 12-18 months and how to develop a refreshed sales approach to drive your business forward. You may have put in place an emergency solution to get you through the initial phases of the pandemic however, moving forward you might need to rethink and refresh your approach.

The online sessions will cover the following topic areas:

S1: REVIEW CURRENT BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

• What’s working and what needs to change?

• How to analyse your current marketplace?

• PESTEL + SWOT analysis
  

S2: SALES CYCLE FRAMEWORK AND CUSTOMER PROFILING

• The profitable 5 Steps sales process.

• Who is your ideal customer? Have you got too many bad customers?

• Brand positioning and value proposition. Where do you sit and fit?
  

S3: SALES SKILLS, PSYCHOLOGY AND SALES PROCESSES

• The 6 cylinders of selling model. Are you firing on all cylinders?

• Sales skills and objection handling. What skills do you need to work on?

• Sales person v sales professional. How do you develop a team of sales professionals?
  

S4: SALES MODELS, CLIENT REFERRALS AND SALES METRICS  

• Sales metrics; what matters? Where are you losing sales?

• Client referrals, testimonials and upsells. Adding value after you’ve done the hard work.

• Putting together your new sales strategy. Key actions and takeaways.

*We currently have some fully funded places on offer for Greater Manchester SME’s who employ 5 or more staff, T/O £100K+ and want growth. Get in touch andrew@knowanddo.com to see if you qualify. (NB. The funding is via the Business Growth Hub and they will confirm eligibility for the programme.)

WORKSHOP Dates for the 2021 fundED SALES programme are:

S1: July 7th    2pm-5pm

S2: July 14th   2pm-5pm

S3: July 21th   2pm-5pm

S4: July 28th 2pm-5pm

This sales programme is being delivered in partnership with the GC Business Growth Hub in Greater Manchester.

PLACES ARE LIMITED, SO IF THIS IS OF INTEREST COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW NOW OR CONTACT ANDREW@KNOWANDDO.COM OR CALL 0161 280 4567

Testimonials from previous attendees on our sales courses.

‘Lots of value. Very polished delivery and great for diving into questions.’

‘Fantastic event presented and delivered by someone who knows his stuff. It gives me a lot to think about going forward.’

‘Very worthwhile event, a great deal to be achieved and gained.’

Photo credit Isaac Smith on Unsplash

Are you a sales person or a sales professional?

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For the last 5 years I’ve had the pleasure of delivering regular sales masterclasses for GC Business Growth Hub aimed at Greater Manchester SME’s wanting to grow their businesses. Around 12 different businesses participate in each masterclass.

One of the key learning objectives is to help each business owner understand how ‘sales’ is viewed and more importantly, used within their business. I always start by asking a simple question “Do you like, love or loath sales?” An overwhelming majority admit to loathing sales and the sales process. One participant recently described how they viewed sales as “a bit grubby”. A statement that many others agreed with.

Further questioning reveals that as these owners describe 'sales' they tend to focus in on examples where they, or someone they know, has experienced some form of dodgy sales practice. For example: They’ve been overpromised and under delivered. The stated price had risen dramatically with additional add-ons. They been trapped in a pressured sales environment or pestered constantly with unsolicited telephone calls. This is the domain of what I call the sales person.

These less than honest or trustworthy practices sit in stark contrast to the domain of the sales professional. Here, the sales professional takes pride in their undertaking and engaging with customers to discover and serve their needs in a way which makes repeat business highly likely. The sales professional works hard at their craft and is always learning and developing their skills.

When I started my first proper sales role (selling facsimile machines) my business card carried the title - Sales Executive. The two brothers who owned the firm and trained me were described by those who met them as ‘natural born sales people’. They looked and acted the part to me as a naïve sales novice. Suited, booted and driving nice cars they seemed to have the gift of the gab and fulfilled a stereotype of what I thought sales was. However, during my 6 week long sales induction programme I realised that these two were anything but natural born sales people. They were sales professionals with a clear plan. Like good magicians or actors they worked hard at their craft behind the scenes and thus, when they performed they made it seem natural.

Every time I was with them they had a book, magazine or audio on the go. They recommended different books across a wide range of subjects to me to read in order to develop my sales skills. I learnt some important basic concepts from them about sales and the need to develop my skills, knowledge and attitude towards sales. Sales, they taught should always be a win-win situation if you want sustained customers. Sales was a worthy profession if done right and they believed in doing it right.

They taught me that profitable sales are the key to a successful business. Figuring out the difference between ‘a profitable sale’ and just ‘a sale’ required a little more effort and a different pitch. A sales professional doesn’t look for the short cut but will help the client understand their needs and wants and put a proposal in that suits the client and themselves.

When I teach sales, I ask business owners to think about building sales practices that reflect a professional approach to sales. This goes right across the business from developing and training the right skills, knowledge and sales attitude. Without this you’ll likely have sales people and not sales professionals in your business.

A knock on impact of people not loving sales is that they tend to avoid reading books or attending courses on sales. This further compounds their issue with sales as if they don’t develop their skills and knowledge they won’t be very good at the subject.  Sales is a broad subject with a huge array of books available some useful some not so. Many attendees simply don’t know where to start their sales skills journey.

Reframing ‘sales’ as a positive and core component of a business helps attendees to shift their thinking about sales. From this new perspective, it’s much easier for people to reengage with sales and develop their specific knowledge to understand how to serve their clients better. Employing professional sales practices and developing a new sales strategy helps owners and staff to love sales and enjoy a more profitable business.

I’m passionate about good sales practices and helping customers to buy the right product as often as they need. Professional sales practices will help you and your business stand out in a crowd of sales amateurs. Profitable sales helps to sustain your business and serve your clients more effectively.

If you want to develop the sales skills in your business contact Know+Do today and ask for our advice.

I’d welcome your thoughts or comments on this important area.