Forget About Your Commission

A few quick thoughts before the weekend hits:

For hundreds of years this was the general sales approach:

“Sit down and listen to me. I know what you need and I’m going to sell it to you. I have the perfect solution for your problem!”

And for a long time, this approach worked. Why?

Buyers didn’t have access to information and sellers didn’t have nearly as many competitors. Also, pre-internet there were simply just less problems to be solved.

Today the sales conversation looks entirely different.

Instead of the seller driving the entire buying cycle, prospects and buyers now play a huge hand in this process due to their endless options, ability to conduct market research, read reviews, take advantage of free demos, and talk to peers all over the world.

This reality has required Salespeople to shift from the sales conversation from strictly Authoritative to Collaborative.

Don’t get it twisted - we still need to understand the buyer journey, know when to push and ask for next steps, and ultimately get deals across the finish line. The road to getting a ‘Yes’ is just a bit more windy these days.

That being said, we (salespeople) have adopted - or need to adopt - a collaborative and solution-oriented mindset in which we’re genuinely trying to solve a problem for a person or a company. Even if you’re selling a large complex enterprise deal, you still need to be able to speak to individual problems and then tie it to business impact across the company.

Gaining a deep understanding and developing a genuine care for your prospects and customers is an essential part of the sales function in today’s world.

With this shift in sales approach has come a shift in sales culture within companies.

---

Boiler Rooms or Bullpen Cultures are dead/dying

When we’re talking about the world’s fastest growing and most respected organization’s, these old-school sales cultures have been tossed out the window for a few reasons:

1. It Drives The Wrong Behaviors

Sales orgs that still require 100 dials/day with no excuses are forcing sales reps to make calls simply for the sake of metrics, which builds a pipeline full of shitty deals or honestly, fake deals.

Also, it doesn’t help reps build real sales skills.

Which leads us to..

1. Millennials and Gen Z Ain’t With It

Younger sales pros aren’t interested in these unrealistically high-pressure sales environments where it’s “hit your number or you’re gone” -- they’re interested in impact, personal growth, and skill building. It’s about more than collecting a check. With so many people in these generations currently in or entering the workforces, companies are required to adapt to their needs - not the other way around.

1. Sales Enablement Changed The Game

Instead of the 100 dial/day culture - companies can empower their sales teams to quickly conduct prospect research at the company and buyer level. This results in the sales rep’s ability to personalize their communication and get really specific with their messaging. More than ever before.

This lends itself to the idea of Quality over Quantity. Focus more on the why/how/what/when of your messaging rather than blowing as many phones and emails as possible.

The new and much improved Collaborative Sales Culture is here to stay.

It improves employee engagement, trust, retention, customer success, and growth.

All that said, keep this in one thing in mind as you prep for next week:

Forget About Your Commission Check. Start Solving Problems.

As soon as you do that, your checks get a lot bigger. 💡