The Death of Selling
I regret to inform you that selling has passed away. The exact time of death is not known, but was long anticipated. Selling fought a long, hard battle against the changing B2B buying process, but ultimately lost the fight. Without adaptation, selling was unable to survive in the new era of sales. Selling will be greatly missed by old-school sales leaders and traditional sales reps who rely solely on hard work, charisma, and a bloated database of personal contacts. However, what gives us hope is the prospect of life after the death of selling.
Life After the Death of Selling
The era of selling we have been operating in is dead. Shifts in the B2B buying process have transformed selling as we know it. We must change the way we sell when buyers change the way they buy, which means we also must change the way we lead.
Below are three tips to help you lead your company in life after the death of selling as we know it.
- Become a Fortuneteller
Now, more than ever, one of your weightiest responsibilities as CEO is anticipating the future. In this new fast-paced sales era, not adapting to a quickly changing market means extinction. Your new job as executive leader is to become a fortuneteller so you can lead your company to adapt. You must figure out what the customer will need not today, but tomorrow, and (most importantly) the day after that. - Become a Builder
If you want to survive in this new era of sales, it is critical to build a framework for your entire organization to make decisions, including the sales team. Gone are the days of autonomous, lone-wolf sales people who make decisions in isolation. Companies with a solid framework for how the entire organization makes decisions will win in the new era of sales. The framework will help everyone, including those who are tangentially supportive of sales efforts, row in the same direction. - Become a Painter
It is not enough to know where your company is going in this new era of sales; you also must paint the picture of the future in vivid colors. Where are you going? Who are the customers you will serve? How will you serve them? What will their unique needs be? Providing answers to these questions will keep your organization moving along on the right path, and allow you to win in this new world of sales.
I want your organization to be one of the companies that makes it in this new era of sales, which is why I wrote the soon-to-be-released book, Life After the Death of Selling: How to Thrive in the New Era of Sales. The book, which will be released early summer, gives insight, strategy and tactics on how to survive, adapt and thrive in the new era of selling. Over the coming weeks, we will be featuring an eight-week series of tips to give you a head start on preparing for the future of the sales world—a future that is already here. We welcome your feedback and thoughts on how you plan to adapt and thrive!
