Modern Selling

Terrible Ring of Truth? Neil Warren

Over 25 years of researching, publishing for, and reporting on the UK Sales Profession, I've seen just about every variation of sales, selling and sales management job there is, from "Sales Director" at the top to "Trainee Telesales" at the bottom, and with every derivative of "Business Development" and "Commercial Operations" in between.

A continuing common theme though has been the inference or the baldly stated fact that you will either be using the telephone, or the motor car, as your primary or exclusive tool for communicating with customers and prospects. For example my first job (in 1976) had "Ring of Confidence?" as the headline, in The Daily Telegraph.

What I'm still seeing though, even today, are supposedly "blue chip" recruiters and trainers, even of graduate-level employees, who will theoretically be heading up our major selling efforts as a nation in 10 years time, describing a job that still requires us to "Smile & Dial" to "Make a Sales Appointment" (where we presumably then "Show up & Throw up"?)

And this at a time when the loudest bells that are ringing (in my ears anyway) are not the door or telephone bells, but the warning bells from America that, if this kind of interruptive and push selling, looking to "close" mostly transactional deals, is what anyone is employing us to do, then 15 out of 18 of us (and we're talking millions in the USA), will not be needed in the economy of 2020.

And as I am now watching the wholesale collapse of both "Field Sales" and "Telesales" jobs (depending on industries and products) from what were considered award-winning and rock-solid employers, in teams of hundreds and even thousands at a time, I can't help thinking that they might be right. And, if they are, what will be the point of you training to enter the profession that way, or to recruit / train some more of those, if you are the recruiter / employer?

This also affects people who can get 5 and 10 years into their careers, when they find at great personal and corporate expense, that modern selling is not what it was in 1970. The example here being the scary 80-90% "churn rate" for even the high-flying elite of the profession, finally graduating to the £50-£100,000 "Field Sales Executive" positions, selling hi-tech and complex something or other, but where the Sales Director / Employer seems to think that that would best be done via Smile, Dial, Appointment, Sell, Close, Next.

And yet all the overwhelming proof says otherwise.

I'm here to discuss, if this is you, or it concerns you and yours...

My Question / Comment Is...