Lone Wolf to Lead Wolf ------ The Evolution of Sales

Remember WhenHow time flies. I remember back in the mid 1970s when the sale of a business was easy and lots of fun. We were then Lone Wolf. We checked everything, we were professionals, we owned a piece of garbage. All we had to, annuity buyers , do was to maintain the property to produce sales. We had our instruments, a company car, boot files, brochures, samples and a calendar / map, annuity buyers , file. As time passed some of us even got car phones. Certainly, we call reports and had made sales meetings, but make no mistake,, annuity buyers , we were professionals, annuity buyers , . We owned that piece of dirt and most of the customers were. If we chose to leave for greener pastures, most of our, annuity buyers , clients went with us. We had respect. All focus on relationships and I remember my first sales training seminar, "Needs Satisfaction selling." I was a rookie and the time of my life. In fact, that a rookie was a part of my strategy, annuity buyers , (though I did not know I had a strategy) to develop relationships, especially with new accounts, "Mr. Customer, I am kind of new at this. I m learning a lot . Can you help me understand some things about your company? "I called myself a rookie well past my fifth birthday as a seller. Most buyers feel sorry for me. She wanted to, annuity buyers , help. They wanted to learn. And, what better way than to start a relationship as the recipient of advice and counsel.Words of WisdomEveryone need a mentor to really be in sales. Sure, I treated, annuity buyers , my clients and potential clients as a mentor. It made them feel good and it helped, annuity buyers , me to build that relationship is key to success in the 70's and 80's. But, we all have one or two special people in our lives that make a difference in our success as represented by a former boss, colleague, professor, someone who is the light in our head and keeps the burning.Those of us who are successful in sales was probably a book on the lessons learned from our mentors write. But there are generally a few comments that stick with us for a lifetime. When it comes to relationship selling, two have stuck with me in the, annuity buyers , past 30 years, "builds a relationship with your customer, Rick., annuity buyers , Build his confidence, gain his respect and he will, annuity buyers , tell you how to do business with him." That's the relationship went on sale. It worked. Cocktail lunches, ball games, golf, fishing trips and visits to a hunting lodge were all part of our repertoire. These were instruments of trade, the relationship builders.Getting know your customer as a person, that's what it was about. He was your friend. To do that, you could not, annuity buyers , most of your time talking about the function and benefits, annuity buyers , of doing little product demos. No, you asked questions, questions about them, and then your mouth and listened. Another novelty of the advice of my mentor, that stuck with me over the years stressed the idea that: "If you spend one hours with a customer and, annuity buyers , you talk for 45 minutes making a presentation, annuity buyers , about features and benefits, your company and God knows what else, and the, annuity buyers , client only calls for 15 minutes, you're a dead man. You'll have to walk your client will think you a Putz, no matter how good your pitch, annuity buyers , . But, listen to me , son, if you one hour to the customer, ask a few questions and let him 45 minutes talking about himself, the 75% sale is made. You walk away and the customer will think you the greatest thing since peanut butter. You have a great sales call. How can he not think that if he spent 45 minutes to tell you everything about themselves? I guarantee it. You only have control. "Change is the only guarantee in life Things have changed, annuity buyers , in the past 20 -30 years. We have gone through an evolutionary, annuity buyers , process in the world of professional selling. We can no longer Lone Wolf. We can not control every piece of data, any contact with our customers or on behalf of the overall customer relationship. To succeed and grow as a professional in sales today, we can not afford to "own" the account. Buyers are more sophisticated today, annuity buyers , . Selling is complex. It is not good enough to just product knowledge., annuity buyers , We have industry knowledge, market knowledge and, more importantly,, annuity buyers , we must understand the customers of our clients. To excel in sales today, we have to educate our customers and help, annuity buyers , them earn money. We should be total solution providers.If we grow as professionals and the transition from Lone Wolf to Lead Wolf then we must make ourselves humble. We should be willing to give total control, share and develop teamwork within our sales organization credit. We can learn from each other.I learned a lesson in humility