Where have all the salesmen gone?

30 May 2008 Categories: Marcel's Musings, Recommended Books by Marcel View Comments

I was shocked to when I read this recent article in “Bignews for the Business Owner” (a free business publication available at all Postnet branches). Here’s an excerpt:

Study shows up lack of sales people in SA

“South Africa has far too few salespeople, says Peter Finkelstein, MD of specialist sales consulting practise DaiSho Marketing.

Looking at the results of a nationwide research by DaiSho into sales and selling in SA, he says fewer than 6% of 1 812 respondents involved at various levels in the sales chain are called salespeople or sales representatives.

The rest go by an assortment of titles ranging from adviser or consultant to customers relationship manager or account manager.

… For some inexplicable reason,” says Finkelstein, “sales people don’t want to be recognised as salespeople.” This despite all respondents admitting their main function is some form of selling.

… managements agree with DaiSho that when sales personnel have low self-esteem – when the live in denial of their role or are so embarrassed by it that they need to disguise their function [my highlighting] – they cannot expect customers to show them real respect.

… Customers expect more from salespeople than they can afford to give.

… A high 72% of salespeople say their workload does not leave enough time to generate leads. What is more, few companies appear to invest in prospecting [my highlighting]. They seem to regard this as a part of a salesperson’s general duties.

Thank you to Mr Finkelstein for pointing out what should be seen as a serious problem for South African business. At time like this, when running expenses seem to be sky-rocketing, companies are under even more pressure to perform & turn a profit. Sadly, it seems most turn to cost-cutting exercises, with many of them thinking that by laying-off staff (or not replacing opening positions) is an acceptable way to save money.

Not the greatest solution – it’s cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Forgive my ignorance & naivete, but isn’t profit = sales – cost of sales? That’s one of the first things I learnt in high school accounting classes. What seems to be happening here is that with a decrease in sales (due to the economic climate), companies are not re-thinking their sales strategy – they’re trying to lower their expenses. Oh oh.

So where have all the salesmen gone?

If the salespeople themselves are embarrassed about their job function, how confident are their prospects about the company’s abilities to deliver on their promises? No wonder their customers don’t give them enough respect! They’re not expecting it of themselves, never mind demanding it.

Are people just not generally aware that you’re selling all of the time? If you’re going on a date, you’re selling. Getting dressed smartly for a meeting? You’re selling. Trying to convince your family to buy you that birthday present gift you’ve always wanted? You’re selling!

On my recent visit to India, I saw that everybody sold something: if you are able to walk to the street, plonk down some coconuts, bananas or magazines, you sell. It didn’t seem like people were thinking “Oh, dear me. I don’t have a job, I’ll wait for someone to give me some work”. Rubbish! They create their own work by buying something, anything, & finding out where people were willing to buy their products . And Kerala, where I was staying, is run by the local Communist Party, so you can’t exactly blame socialism.

What is even more disconcerting is that it seems that in South Africa,in an effort to get some sort of work out of their sales staff, management gives their salespeople even more work to do. Work that keeps them in the office – who are you going to sell to there? If almost 3/4 of the salespeople questioned say their workload does not leave them enough time to generate leads, who’s fault is that? You can’t consider investing in prospecting as part of a salesperson’s general duties AND expect them to increase sales.

Personally, I think the root of the issue is that South African business owner’s don’t know how to motivate, educate & appreciate their salespeople. By the same token, I don’t think there are enough “full-time professional” salespeople who consistently work on self-development of their skill sets.

There is obviously a urgent & desperate need for proper “I-am-proud-to-be-a-salesman” salesmen in South Africa. If you are one of them, this is best time to be searching for companies willing to pay serious money for someone that can effectively increase sales. Just put on your ‘marketing hat’ for a second here: isn’t finding a need & fulfilling it what selling & marketing is all about?

Do South African salespeople really know how to ’sell themselves’?

Do you think that South Africans generally negative towards selling?

Or just towards salespeople?

Recommended resources:

Anything by Jeffrey Gitomer : if you haven’t heard of him, then you know nothing ‘Sparky’!

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource