Most people can’t sell, including most salespeople. About 60% – 70% of people involved in the sales process are what is know as order- takers, people who merely show up (or stand around or pick up the phone) and fill out the order sheet.
Really selling something is hard work and we all know that most people do not want to work very hard, especially for an extended period. This is why true sales professionals, those people who know how to generate and close business, are such valuable commodities. But there also exist people who are not only ineffective and poor salespeople, they are caustic to any business. These are the anti-salespeople.
Anti-salespeople are hurting your organization.
I’ve spend the last few weeks struggling with a situation within my sales territory that has the potential to negatively affect both my total gross sales numbers and my commission far into the future. Skipping the details of the situation, I found it amazing that the circumstances and logic that led to the situation were allowed to proceed, because to the rational and logical mind none of this makes sense. Since everyone involved in the sales process within my territory are, at least in title, salespeople, you would think that any measures taken would be those consistent with growing the sales pie.
Then it hit me.
We have an anti-salesperson involved in the process!
Definition of an anti-salesperson?
“Organizations are perfectly designed to achieve the results they are getting.”
Oftentimes businesses and organizations involved with selling a product have sales prevention teams…unofficial (obviously) teams and individuals who impede sales and interfere with the sales process. Most of the the this is accomplished by making it too hard or complex to buy from you. Having a product or service is wonderful, but when it’s too much of a hassle to deal with your company people will go somewhere else, even if the competitive offering is inferior.
Anti-salespeople work in a similar manner to the Sales prevention team, although they are rarely members. They are more like double-agents embedded in your organization in that they appear to be accomplishing one task – selling things, while in actuality they are harming both present and future sales.
Just as there are “natural-born” salespeople there exist “natural-born” anti-salespeople. These are people whose natural mental makeup and predisposition cause them to impede and interfere with the sales process. I believe however, that the number of natural anti-salespeople is small. Most anti-salespeople are created by their organizations through misguided incentive plans, poor management, insufficient supervision and inadequate leadership.
Some environments are better than others.
Most anti-salespeople can be found in corporate sales organizations. Why? Because corporate sales forces tend to be large and the pay and incentives are often not tied directly to actual sales results. Corporate Salespeople can often survive and even be promoted not because of their sales results, but for political reasons…who they know and how well they can “bullshit” their way into and out of assignments.
In large organizations, like the government, you can easily hide your lack of talent and ability by playing corporate politics, avoiding accountability and responsibility.
Sales managers and business owners need to constantly be on the lookout for anti-salespeople because by their very nature they make themselves difficult to find by hiding in the cracks and backwaters of an organization, laying low so that they can collect their paychecks for as long as possible. It’s especially important to identify and remove anti-salespeople when times are tough, as they are today. This means managers and supervisors need to constantly be on the lookout for people who are out there destroying business.
The best way to determine who is an effective salespeople is to base their evaluations on their results, and it has to be direct results. Oftentimes in corporations people can get credit for other people’s efforts. Through various departmental and divisional agreements salespeople get compensated for the results other achieve, which allows them to claim success when there isn’t any. Peel back the surface and look underneath and you’ll see who is really producing and who is coasting along on the efforts of others.
When you find them you need to fire them, or at least remove them from the front lines and get them away from customers. Having nobody in a territory is better than having a salesperson tarnishing your reputation and driving people away.
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This is a big reason why companies have trouble executing their strategy.
Jose Escalante
Business Marketing Small
You always need to take the human element into consideration, which very few managers or corporate types do. People are motivated by their self-interest, not the general good of the organization or entities outside themselves and their immediate circle.
Yes, accountability is the key to avoid people hiding behind the smoke screen.
John Ho
Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion
Office politics are just one more reason not to work for anyone else.
I never considered natural born anti-salespeople before, but now that you mention it….
Keri Eagan
Alternative Healing *Insight
Hi Steve
I read somewhere that if a person has expressed an interest, even only a slight interest, in buying, then they are 80% sold.
So if a salesperson has a 50% conversion rate, then they are anti-salespersons – their conversion rate is 30% less than if they did nothing at all!!
Martin Wright
Impact, Poise, Presenting
Hi Steve,
excellent points for Sales Directors and Sales Managers, especially in medium – large corporate sales divisions. Some comp plans astound me with how they are developed and have nothing to do with actual selling.
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell
Single Boomer Dating Expert
Taking into account a person’s history prior to hiring them MIGHT help weed out these types of sales chaff from the sales wheat. Some companies will hire ANYONE that desires to sell their product(s).
Health, Fitness for Working People — Darryl Pace
When you say it is better to have nobody in a territory than to have a bad salesperson driving potential customers away, at first I thought, “no, it’s got to be better to have someone there.” But you’re right, if you have nobody there, perhaps a few customers may find your company via the yellow pages or word of mouth, or at least will be open to your salesperson when they eventually get into that area. But with a bad salesperson, you’re right, people will run and hide at the mere mention of your company. I know this first hand because I have a note written across the white board behind my desk at work reminiding me not to talk to anyone from a particular company because the prior salesperson irritated me so much that I don’t care what they’re offering – I’m not interested!
Lisa McLellan, Child Care Expert
Babysitting Services, Babysitting Tips, Babysitters, Nannies
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