Let’s Ban “Sales”

What? In times like these? We need all the sales we can get. Don’t we? Sure do. But what I’m talking about is the word, “sales.”

It’s a bad word. And I don’t mean “sales” as in marked down prices. I mean calling the top line of your income statement, “sales.” Yes, those sales. Sure you want that number as big as you can get it. But calling it sales is not only a misnomer; it often leads to problems that hinder its growth.

First, management problems.

You want more sales. So what do you do? Hire another sales person, raise goals, change bonuses, jigger with the territories, what else? How can you increase sales, particularly now? Just push harder.

Not only will those actions not increase sales, they’ll confuse and demoralize the sales force resulting in lower sales. If you increase sales from these efforts, you were mismanaging your sales force.

Second, sales force issues.

Your sales force often thinks they are responsible for sales. That is unless there aren’t any. Then marketing, pricing, engineering, or a competitor is the problem. And every sales person seems to have a solution to the problem but the sales force as a group can rarely reach consensus. And if you intimate that they might even be a small part of the problem, you’re in trouble.

Here’s the crux of the problem.

Your sales aren’t really aren’t sales. They’re purchases. And there’s a world of differences between your sales to customers and their purchases from you. This may sound simply like semantics but it’s all about who does what to whom.

Selling and sales imply you have control over the outcome. You don’t. Your customers have control, not you. They purchase. They make the decision. You can try to influence them, in fact, you should. But in the end it comes down to their decision.

Not yours.

If you continue under the illusion that you sell your product, thinking you have control, you make all the wrong decisions. You’re bound to. You don’t understand the problem. Here’s where you need to start.

Start thinking about how you can earn more purchasers. What else can you provide them? What can you change, enhance, improve? They know and they can tell you. But only when you – and the purchasers – recognize that you aren’t selling but helping them purchase.

They can help you build a better product or service.

They can help you figure out how to price it.

They can be very helpful with distribution.

And they can help you promote it with just a nudge from you.

So yearn for more purchasers making more purchases. This will take you much farther than “sales.” And your sales personnel will also realize that their job is helping the customer purchase.

(With credit to Bob Lambert, Samurai Business Group)