No one really cares.
Prepare with that in mind and you’re more likely to create something wonderful… your opening statements, your responses to the standard objections you hear, the follow-up voicemail messages you leave, the email responses you send, the reasons you give for why someone should buy from you.
NORC
It’s not that your prospects and customers shouldn’t care (or never care). It’s that if you approach your contact preparation in a less egocentric way, and in fact, by being hard on yourself (just as your prospects and customers can and will be), you’ll be stronger for it and ultimately help your prospects and customers see the value of your offerings much faster (or qualify them much faster so you can invest your sales time in better places).
They’re busy, just as you are. If they’re doing their work, you’re a distraction until you have something of interest to them. Getting and keeping their attention isn’t an entitlement. It’s an opportunity and privilege.
No one really cares. NORC.
It’ll make you stronger.
Now go sell something.~>
(Frustrated with your marketing department’s brochure and corporate messaging work? Maybe a gentle (or not so gentle) NORC reminder will help? Be patient with them… they’re not sales professionals.)
Tim says:
My problem is more complex. I work for a small company and wear the Sales and Marketing hats simultaneously. Luckily, I’m a gemini, so I’m no stranger to the whole split personality thing. Anyhow, it becomes a chicken-and-egg situation all the time and I get abused for when the marketing isn’t as professional as possible, or my sales numbers are down. Trying to decide how to spend my time is quite difficult because I am the lone sales person and no one else is trying to drive business. What should I do?
14 July 2010
Michael says:
This is the total truth… As sales managers/reps etc.. we often times feel entitled to get our pitch in. Sales & Marketing go hand in hand… without one, the other would fail. It’s marketing team role to get the people in the door… It’s our job as the sales team to keep them loyal & keep them in the seat.
The most successful team tend to shy away from blame & pointing fingers, work together to streamline the process and create stronger — better results.
6 June 2010
collink says:
Its okay to be hard on yourself if you have a coachable mindset. Learn from your mistakes and take them to heart. Don’t depress yourself because you failed, be happy that your aware of your mistake and won’t let it happen again.
27 October 2009
Justin says:
I like it, Real. Good points.
15 September 2009
Amy says:
I’m actually a sales person with a marketing mind. I ended up getting a sales position (instead of a marketing one) when I graduated college, and learned really quickly that being able to add my marketing strengths to my selling skills, it gave both me personally and my company a competitive advantage.
Generally speaking from my experiences, if marketing materials and opportunities are truly great and not just “good,” a client will find the money or resources to buy. That said, marketing can actually be the difference between a sale or not.
When the sales and marketing teams are in sync, it definitely makes the company a lot stronger.
19 August 2009
Jay Bailey says:
Real – The problem actually lies in the major disconnect between marketing (advertising) and sales. Marketing and selling are supposed to be one in the same… or at the very least sales is a division of marketing. But unfortunately marketing has taken on a whole new personality over the past 20, and even the past 10 years and is now driven almost exclusively by “creative” types that focus heavily on form over function, awards over sales, and image over revenue.
Too often marketing departments and ad firms lose touch with their fundamental purpose – to drive sales. And management is to blame, they allow marketing to operate outside a world of any measurable accountability… ie. mention the word ROI to marketing types and your bound to see a sea of blank faces. Marketing has become a self fulfilling prophecy and very few firms understand how to create a successful marketing piece (one that drives revenue) today.
If you want your company to have a successful marketing campaign/brochure/website/whatever… you have to understand that marketing should exist to compliment the sales professional’s efforts. After all, the money made off all those sales is what gets budgeted towards your next revolutionary campaign.
19 August 2009
Sam Parker says:
Real (marketing) person… Please use your real (marketing) name if you want to continue to have your comments included. And thanks, by the way, for crossing the aisle. We love you for it.
Now go sell something.~>
10 August 2009
realperson says:
unfortunately, you have missed the point entirely
10 August 2009
Loretta says:
If it wasn’t for the “big fat commission person”, you’d have nothing to market:)
23 July 2009
realperson says:
This started off great, but once again, in the end, comes the insults and blaming of marketing and suggestion that sales professionals know everything about marketing, always have the right answers, are superior beings and never to blame. This seems in conflict with your higher slogan “just sell,” which might be better backed up with a gentle (or not so gentle) reminder saying “quit blaming marketing for your problems, quit worrying about what marketing is and isn’t doing, quit projecting poor sales on marketing/others while taking credit for good sales as your own personal achievement, quit being an egotistical, condescending, lazy, whiny, know-it-all, greedy gasbag that thinks they are entitled to special treatment and that everyone is in love with and expects others to take ownership of everything except schmoozing and collecting fat commissions, quit trying to tell everyone else how to do their job, and instead pick up the phone, make a cold call, knock on a door, learn something about your product/prospect/competition, be real, be honest, be humble and just sell.” But still be patient with them…they’re not mere humans…just ask them.
23 July 2009