The Sales Rep is Dead; Long Live the Sales Pro.

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  ollyl@...06/28/07 Report as spam
  1

  Death of Sales Reps

  What an interesting subject. Agreed, much is in the process of becoming commodities and they can cetainly be accessed directly by customers.
  
  I contend, however, that the death of sales reps and the realization of the value of sales pros (I call them consultants, a more accurate description with no negative connotation) will not depend on some magical realization on the part of consumers.
  
  The transformation of sales people will be the function and responsibility of the organisations that employ sales people and the trainers who are supposed to 'educate' them.
  
  We have developed a philosophy within our organisation where the sales consultant is holistically trained to truly be a consultant, a problem solver and, above all, a professional listener. The results have been staggering in that turnover has dropped by 80% and sales results have become incredibly steady. No more boom or bust.
  
  My point is that the responsibility for change in the nature of sales reps is with the reps themselves and the organisations that employ, and should serve them.
  
  Regards,
  
  
  Ollie Lind

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  dwangjhstone@...06/28/07 Report as spam
  2

  Sales Pro vs Sales Rep

  I am selling granite stones in China for my customers everywhre in the world. Many times customers think we are working like a middle man. This is actually not the situation as in China there is no sales rep as we normally defined they are. As local Chinese manfufacturers mostly work on cash-payment basis, the export agent in China (particularly in stone business) need to do the following:
  -- Pay cash to the manufacturer before shiping goods to oversea buyer
  -- Do quality control and inspection
  -- Set up a policy of product replacement or refund for defective goods (Most Chinese manufacturer are not fuly responsible for defective goods).
  
  I actully provide more on problem solutions rather than selling products. The question is that how can I make the customers understand my situation and the added value service we provide to them

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine06/29/07 Report as spam
  3

  Changing perception

  The easiest way is simply to change your job title. In the U.S. there are thousands of "systems engineers" who are responsible for finding out what customers want and designing solutions for them. They're actually sales pros and many are on commission, but they have business cards that say they're engineers. Otherwise the technical types to whom they're selling wouldn't even be willing to talk to them.

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  geagea09/19/08 Report as spam
  4

  RE: The Sales Rep is Dead; Long Live the Sales Pro.

  how do i beet the competition of old systems that some companies are still using and that are afraid of changing simply caus they are used to their "legacy" systems???