The Sales Call

Seth Godin recently blogged on the death of the sales call in which he discussed why the sales call is outmoded and and close to extinction.  He's ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, the traditional sales call should be relegated to the trash heap.  The problem is that the traditional sales call is what we've all been trained on and only a very few (and I mean a very, very few) sales teams understand the approach of ABL (Always Be Leaving).

Seth speaks of "An unprepared salesperson should be shown the door. What about an unprepared or unmotivated buyer?" which leads me directly to ABL.  ABL comes courtesy of "Mastering The Complex Sale" which is a must read book about the new sales process.

What is interesting is that when I read "Mastering The Complex Sale" I didn't realize they said that any good sales person should always be leaving a prospect and looking for better places to spend their time.  I only realized that after I took their seminar.

And it is very hard to do: Because as sales professionals we are typically taught Always Be Closing ... what a crock of $#%!.  Seth is right, if someone does not have symptoms a clear and present danger/problem, they are not ready to buy and sales people should not be ready to sell.  ABL and find someone who does have symptoms of the lack of your solution.  And by the way, read the book.

And listen to Seth.

See you on the wire

Steven Cardinale

Comments

[Rick]

Great observations on the book.
Enlightened comments on ABL.
Listen to Seth.............sometimes.