Why is Sales As A Profession, Disliked So Much?
by Manish J. top MBA colleges in BangaluruWhen I talk to MBA students about sales as a career, a
distasteful look fleets across their faces. For may getting into sales after
doing an MBA from a top
MBA college is unthinkable. I sympathize. The image of a sales
person conning you into buying something you do not need comes to mind. I did
hardcore sales for 2 years and then decided never to do it again. Lo and
behold, for the last 10 odd years I have been spending an increasing
proportion of my time selling. As I grow more senior in an organization, I am
selling my organization’s products to customers, the organization’s prospects
to shareholders and the organization’s values to current and prospective
employees.
The reason selling seems distasteful is probably because I
am dependent on the ‘buyer’ to make a decision and therefore I am in his
power. Maybe this hurts my ego. Another reason could be that there is no set
formula for success and we need to make a new effort and come up with a new
tactic for each sale. This means we need to understand and adapt to each
situation as it comes. There is no predictability and so a perceived loss of
control.
Is convincing people not selling? Am I not spending my day
in and outside office convincing and being convinced? How can I escape
selling?
So let us get real. We sell all our life and sales is
unpredictable. There is statistically a 50 percent chance of success or
failure. If our success rate more that 50%, we are ahead of the curve.
Although there is no formula, I have adapted the old Xerox
methodology for selling. This was called the SPANCO method.
- Suspect – list of all
potential customers that I need to convince
- Prospect – a short list
of qualified suspects
- Approach – what tactics
do i adopt for each customer
- Negotiate – Come to
terms, monetary and otherwise
- Close – get a letter of
intent or be the only one in the running
- Order – get the money or
a contract
In order to sell anything, including myself for a job, I
can follow this method.
- S: I make a list of all
potential companies that I can apply to.
- P: I create a set of
criteria to short list the targets. This can be based on location,
salary, other perks, culture, learning potential, availability of jobs,
seniors’ feedback, competition with other job seekers, company
financials, company potential etc. I give weight to each of these
criteria in order of importance. I then do my research and give points
for each criteria (simple one is: 1 for favourable, 0 for no information,
-1 for unfavourable). I then perform a weighted average calculation for
each suspect and come up with a short list of companies.
- A: For each company, I
find out who to contact, what is the job, how to meet the person, what makes
that person tick (what is in it for him), why will they take me, where
and when should I meet the person, in essence the who/ what/ where/ why/
when/ how of each prospect. I need to have a 3-line pitch ready. This is
when I customize my resume based on the requirement (equivalent to a
proposal).
- I do the homework and
then I approach the company. Once I have reached a decision maker I make
my short pitch and get him to engage so that there is a follow up action.
I cannot get a sale done in one meeting and this stage takes time, with
different meetings, different deliverables and maybe different
approaches.
- N: Once the prospect is
convinced about the product (me), he needs to get the company to shell
out money (salary). So a negotiation starts with maybe the purchase
department (HR in this case). This is the time when I need to evaluate
the relative merits and demerits of the competition, so I need to know
who is the competition and I project myself as the ideal product for the
job in the most cost effective way.
- C: This stage is when I
am the only candidate in the running and the numbers have been
negotiated. This is where I am waiting for an appointment letter. Many
times, specially like now, these letters can be withdrawn or a
renegotiation can happen.
- O: This is when I have
actually joined or I have a proper contract with the company, the PF has
been set up and I am a bona fide employee.
Sponsor Ads
Created on Jun 16th 2019 04:30. Viewed 108 times.