Why Salespeople Don't Make More Sales (And How to Turn it Around)

Warning! This isn't about dumping on salespeople or blaming them for failing to meet their "numbers." If that's what you're looking for, this won't help you.

Understandably, the pressure to improve sales performance is very real both for salespeople and sales managers. Reducing sales costs,

Certainly, finding ways to use the Internet to facilitate the sales process is a priority. At the top of any list is what can be called sales communication, the task of making it possible for salespeople to stay in close contact with their customers so that no customer is left behind.

While corporate America has come up with the term "Relationship Manager" to describe this experience, it's possible that Customer Manager is even more descriptive. Although it is less "touchy-feely," it suggests that the salesperson's role is implementing a wide array or constellation of tactics to grow a book of business.

For this to occur, it may be helpful for salespeople to reconfigure both their thinking and their practices in specific ways:

1. Move away from "it's up to me" to "it's up to us."

Closing the deal is the salesperson's symbol of success. It's coming home with "the big one." It's the measure of one's sales prowess. "I'll take care of it myself; I don't trust anyone else," is the mantra.

Team selling is an attempt to move from a "me" to more of an "us" approach. While it's certainly helpful, it seems to miss the mark.

First American Insurance Underwriters, Inc., a life insurance and annuities wholesale brokerage firm, sees the winning formula as a combination of a salesperson's in-depth experience and the company's specialized expertise, particularly when dealing with complex financial issues. One is not more important than the other; it takes both.

In other words, the myth of the salesperson as lone hunter is gone, even though many have difficulty putting it out of their minds.

2. Become an extension of the customer.

The Internet is having a formidable impact on sales and not only as a distribution channel. BI (Before Internet), the "bond" between salesperson and customer was primarily a "relationship," a quality that most salespeople continue to believe is totally crucial to their success and something the company they work for should treat with the utmost respect. In other words, any and all dealings with the customer must go through the salesperson.