“Nothing happens until something gets sold!”
That was the euphemistic statement which was liberally applied during my initial rounds in sales training. It was that group of words which the instructors used to encourage the business development trainees to hang-in-there and drive our way through the sales training process. After all, let’s face it; there are not a tremendous number of people who make the conscientious decision to embark upon a career in sales.
Knocking on the door, cold calling, warm calling, not calling, writing endless emails, doing something, anything to sell some thing to someone who might be interested in buying what you have to offer, is not easy. There has got to be a better way to sell, right? Who wants to deal with that business challenge as Willy Loman once endured? And that all important role, the sales contributor, is the most crucial position in any for-profit entity, and also within a large portion of not-for-profit entities too. Because nothing will happen until something gets sold! And that is the pure, simple truth about business.
Think about it. If nobody bought a light bulb, would GE Lighting be in business? If nobody wanted to buy space, a seat, on an American Airlines jet aircraft, would Boeing or Airbus be in business? If nobody wanted to take advantage of the power that a computer, tablet or not, delivers to the individual user, would Apple or Microsoft be in business? And, more importantly, would all of the ancillary businesses be present in the market that designs, builds and contributes subassemblies and parts to the aforementioned firms? That too is a simple answer: no. None of those companies would be in business in their current formats, they would have morphed in a different direction or perhaps they would have ceased to exist.
When the automobile came along, companies that manufactured buggies, horse whips and wagon wheels became bankrupt. So what do those examples have to do with sales and business? Someone had to get out there and sell the added value that those companies offered and delivered to market place. This caused the waterfall of products and services that make the apex companies realize the tremendous added value that they deliver to the market place. And in that process, as the marketplace became more complex, more products and services found their way to the consumer at a better price, with more options and functionality, choice increased. In short, the customer buying experience broadened and widened, offering more choices to the consumer.
How does a company, in today’s marketplace, which changes rapidly and competes for every dollar, pound and Euro, move fast enough to stay ahead of the competition on a worldwide basis? Perficient can help a company do this by selling CX style!
