Owners and managers all know this person. The one who would rather clean their office or email inbox than get in front of prospective clients. The person who looks at selling as something they have to do, rather than something they get to do. The one who doesn’t want to be the traditional pushy, sleazy, slimy salesperson, so they overcompensate by being a professional visitor and providing a ton of unpaid consulting.
For many sales reps (and really, this can apply to any other client-facing role), selling isn’t fun. It makes sense: this group doesn’t get the results they want, they are unsure how to handle difficult people or situations, or they just don’t know what to do to avoid falling into common sales traps.
If selling isn’t fun for your people, ask yourself:
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Do they use a repeatable predictable process when selling?
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Are they okay with hearing “no” answers from prospects?
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Do they avoid taking things personally when selling?
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Do they avoid wanting to be liked by people?
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Do they really know what selling is? Hint: it’s not convincing people to do something they don’t want to do. And finally…
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Is this a profession they truly want to be in?
If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, this is why your salesperson or sales team is producing at their current level.
Selling is fun when you know what you are doing and what the real intent of selling is. Unfortunately, most reps have not worked themselves through years of headtrash and scripting that reinforces that selling isn’t fun. If you struggle as a leader at changing this mindset, you either have the wrong people or it is time to bring in a professional who does this for a living. Who knows, with some work sales may become fun for everyone, even the skeptics?
