Certainly there are some sales skills that ANYONE can learn. For example, it’s easy to teach how to ask reflective questions.
(Reflective questions are questions that begin with “Who”, “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How”. If you ask reflective questions instead of questions that can be answered with “Yes” or “No”, prospects usually share more information with you. This increases your chances of uncovering “pain points” that can eventually lead to sales.)
You can learn how to ask reflective questions by participating in a simple role play. In this role play, you’ll play the salesperson and I'll play the prospect. Every time you ask me a “Yes/No” question, I'll answer “No”. Getting stonewalled with a bunch of “No’s” will break you of the Yes/No questioning habit pretty quickly!
Other sales skills are tougher to learn. A good example is teaching salespeople how to ask questions and “follow the thread” in the answers. To explain this concept, let’s use another role play. In this role play you'll ask me reflective questions. I'll respond with answers that contain some “pain points”. If you recognize the pain points and drill down into them deeply enough (by asking additional questions), you'll eventually be able to “sell” me.
Do you know what my experience has been with this role play? Some salespeople learn how to “follow the thread” easily. Others struggle, but they eventually learn how to do it. However, some just never get it, no matter how hard they try!
Why can some people learn this critical skill, but others can’t?
I struggled with this question for 14 years. I used to believe that anyone could succeed at anything if they wanted it badly enough and were willing to work hard enough. However, my experience with the "follow the thread" role play made me start to question that belief. As I continued reading and researching over the years, I eventually uncovered two pieces of information that really opened my eyes.
KEY DISCOVERY #1
In their book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths", Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton report that great managers and average managers have different expectations for their employees. According to Buckingham and Clifton, average managers assume that "each person can learn to be competent in almost anything", while great managers assume that "each person’s talents are enduring and unique".
Most sales books and training programs seem to take the “average manager” point of view. In other words, they seem to assume that ANYONE can learn how to sell. Their unspoken promise is that all you have to do is invest enough time and effort (and money!) to learn the skills they teach. If you put in the time and effort, you will learn the skills and (eventually) succeed in sales.
Unfortunately, there are countless examples of sales books and training courses not producing the desired improvement in sales performance. Think about some salespeople you know personally. How many of them are struggling to make their quotas? Why are they struggling?
- Is it the state of the economy? (If other salespeople are making their numbers, blaming the economy won’t earn them much sympathy.)
- Is it because they don’t work hard enough?
- Is it because they don’t have enough product knowledge?
- Do they need to work harder on their selling skills?
- Do they need more coaching from their manager?
What if the “great manager” point of view is correct? What if everyone CANNOT become proficient in sales? What if success in sales requires a UNIQUE set of talents?
