Product Knowledge Won't Sell Tomorrow

In 1968, when I was a teenager, Weatherman and radical Jerry Rubin said never trust anyone over 30. All of a sudden, I have a hard time finding anyone under 30. Shifts in the economy — the up and down cycles — have pushed and squeezed our industry in strange ways. When I launched my career and the quest for fame and fortune in 1978, the selling world was chock full of guys like me — neophyte kids. We were as green as the grass Jerry was probably smoking, but most of us were anxious to learn and move forward. Today, things have changed. Our sales departments are brimming with seasoned pros. These are folks that have 10, 15, maybe even 20 years of experience.

With this kind of veteran bench strength, one would expect that our selling troubles would be over, with easy street right around the corner. Sadly, for those of us who have made company leadership our stock in trade, it's not all that easy.

Our world has continued to twist, turn and morph into something our business forefathers a generation ago would struggle to understand. Case in point: I just learned of a study on customer buying preferences. According to this work, the typical customer would rather gather information on the Web than deal with a live salesperson. This means they would rather gawk at Google than talk to Willy, the account manager.

When the Web first appeared, a very successful salesperson friend was fond of calling himself the human search engine. Customers told him what they were interested in learning about, and soon thereafter, he brought them the information. This seemed cutting edge 10 years ago — but in sales, it's what the customer wants that counts. And, when customers want to gather their first blast of new product information via the Web, that “human search engine” routine is as obsolete as plaid pants and white shoes.

Now let's get our minds around a couple of things most of us know to be true.

• If selling turns into a purely Web-oriented thing — most small, independent distributors will lose. The big boys have a lot more money to throw at the problem. And a Web-only selling world plays to their strength.

• Improvements in shipping and logistics make our local inventories less of a calling card for most big projects. UPS, FedEx and others continue to stretch the size of their next-day shipment area. If the customer can wait until the next day, our advantage is lost.

• Our customers are continuing to operate their businesses with as few people as possible — lean and mean. Jobless recovery will probably turn this into the permanent reality.

Customer relationships are still important, but the “right stuff” for building the relationship is shifting. Our jobs are to create an environment where our salespeople provide the things a customer values in today's environment. The question is: What can we provide that will endear us to them into the future?