Linda Richardson joins me on this episode of the Upgraded Salesman Show to discuss how the sales conversation is changing and what the future of sales is going to look like.

 

Is consultative selling obsolete? 

“The how to [sell] is the easy part. The hard part is the commitment. The commitment to learning, to getting better tomorrow than you are today”

 

We start the show with Linda giving us an overview of the old model of consultative selling for anyone who isn’t familiar (and who better to hear it from!) before we look at how this is evolving over time into something that has greatly more value to the end customer.

 

 

Prospecting is dead, long live prospecting

Next we dive into how prospecting for sales people has changed with the internet becoming ubiquitous across the developed world. There is way more information about the products you’re selling online and prospects are more informed than ever before they even get to speak with you.

 

“I think the area of prospecting has dramatically, DRAMATICALLY changed”

 

I ask Linda if marketing taking some of the responsibility for the beginning of the sales funnel away from the individual sales person is a good thing or bad. Then we look at if sales people should be getting more involved with marketing on a personal level by working on their personal branding.

 

Are sales roles becoming obsolete?

“The way I see it, the sales person will remain important if the client needs value ad”

 

Finally we discus if sales roles will become more or less important over time and if they will have to become experts in their field and evolve in new ways to be able to offer the customer more value in their business.

 

 

Guest info:

Linda Richardson is  a  consultant, writer, sales leader, and  founder and builder of Richardson.  Early her career Linda drove the movement to Consultative Selling to help salespeople adapt to changes in client needs and  engage in need based dialogues.  Consultative Selling became mainstream and served sales forces well for several decades.

Linda’s new book,  Changing the Sales Conversation, McGraw-Hill -December 2013, focuses on the five conversation changers that have been identified to be needed to  succeed with highly informed clients in the new sales landscape.  She has circled back to salespeople as teachers, not touting  the superiority of  their product capabilities, but bringing  insights, ideas, and delivering results to their clients.

For years, decades theorists have debated whether selling is an art or a science. Now there is an answer:  Selling was primarily an art, but now it truly is also a science as well.  The art is in the innate talent some are born with and the skills they can develop; the science is in the sales process, metrics,  sales enablement tools, and research now available to sales teams with a click.

 

Listen on your mobile device: 

 

Show notes:

LindaRichardson.com

 

Books mentioned:

Changing the Sales Conversation: Connect, Collaborate, and Close

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others