The Blind Leading the Blind

Most salespeople are blind these days. They see so much, they perceive so little, that they know even less.

The first cause of blindness is lack of education and training. Education and training are more important today than they ever have been in selling because products are becoming more complicated. Manufacturers add more new features with each production run and the salespeople don't have time to learn all the features on the products from last year let alone all the new features that have come out this year.

My cell phone is three years old. I have been thinking about replacing the phone for some time. Yesterday I went to the mall to look at cell phones. As I was looking at the cell phones; whenever I asked the salesperson a question, she had to keep pulling up a binder and looking for the product spec sheets to explain the function set of each phone to me.

That demonstration of incompetence did not do a lot for my confidence about buying a phone from her. So I told the salesperson I needed to think about it. She handed me several brochures and her card as I walked out.

The second cause of blindness is lack of good leadership. Leadership is all about modeling an example for the salespeople and managing them to that model. The number one skill needed by salespeople to keep the Internet from making them obsolete is product knowledge and the ability to transfer knowledge to the customer.

To review the brochures and educate myself on cell phones, I went over to the coffee shop across the hallway and got a coffee. I sat down at one of the tables in the mallway to review the brochures and think.

While I was sipping my coffee I watched as the salesperson, now freed from pesky customers, got on her cell phone and began a personal call. I was not surprised and felt sad that our encounter didn't make much of an impression on her about how much she didn't know about her craft and her products.

If she had been any good as a salesperson, she should have taken the time before her next customer to study some of the product information so she could be better prepared for her next customer. Instead of taking the time to learn more about the products she needed to sell to make a living; she was more concerned with making a personal phone call. Her call lasted until the manager came into the store. At which time she hung up and joined a group of salespeople gathering around the manager.

I had expected to see the manager do manager type stuff like make some announcements on new products and/or services. Checking the mood of the team, and checking on sales so far that day. I was expecting him to spend a few minutes with each salesperson checking on their needs or giving them a little personal coaching on challenges they were facing to help them perform better.

Instead, he proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes talking about a basketball game with one of the staff members and making personal phone calls of his own. That type of activity is typical of why most sales management fails.

Where have all the good sales managers gone? A lot of storeowners take a top salesperson and turn them into a sales manager thinking the former star will be able to replicate themselves on the sales force and it very rarely happens. The lack of good sales management was the reason why, I didn't buy a cell phone there.

The salesperson was not educated, trained or knowledgeable and that was a much the fault of the sales manager as it was hers. Her lack of knowledge revealed how new she was, indicating high turnover to me.

The lack of training more than any other factor is the cause of high turnover.

So instead of training his people; the phone store sales manager across the mallway was socializing with his people. He obviously was too concerned about remaining "buds" with his former peers to be a real manager to them.

Sales management requires a different skill set than selling does. The skill sets are almost opposite of each other.

A good salesperson needs to act fast and adapt to the changing situation of the moment. A good sales manager has to act slowly and with deliberate thought and planning. This is important because while salespeople need the ability to shift directions to go with the flow, the sales managers need to make sure they go the right direction.

A good salesperson has to have a "laser-like focus" on the customer in front of them to the exclusion of everything that is going on around them to be effective. A good sales manager has to be watching the all the selling situations from the 30,000-foot view looking at activities of all the players all the time. This is important because a salesperson only has to win the battle, the sales manager has to win the war.

A good salesperson is able to customize and deliver the knowledge a customer needs to make a buying decision. A good sales manager is able to train and motivate salespeople to take the time and make the effort to learn, and use knowledge to help them sell. This is important because the ability to personalize the amount and delivery of information is the only thing that keeps the Internet from completely dominating the world of retail.

A good salesperson is able to put the customer first and make them feel they are the most important person in the world. A good sales manager is able to put the salesperson first and make them feel they are the most important person in the world. This is critical because how you treat your salespeople is how they will treat your customers.

A good salesperson develops their customers into lifetime clients. A good sales manager develops their salespeople continuously improving their selling skills over a lifetime. This is vital to the survival of a retail store because fewer people every year chose retailing as a profession and we need to grow our own superstars because they don't come knocking on the door everyday.

The difference between the two skill sets is like the difference between playing checkers and chess. Great salespeople play checkers. Great sales managers play chess. Taking a top salesperson and turning them into a sales manager more often than not ends up with the "blind leading the blind."