SellingBrew

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

Become a subscriber and unlock an information arsenal focused on making your sales operation more effective.

Salespeople Don’t Buy What They’re Selling

Everywhere we turn, we hear that “confidence” is the key to being a great salesperson. A great salesperson speaks with confidence. A great salesperson exudes confidence in their personal appearance and demeanor. A great salesperson confidently pushes back on procurement games and holds the line on discounting pressure.

Wait…what was that last one again?

Something doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, we have salespeople who—by their very nature—have tremendous confidence in most respects. On the other hand, those very same salespeople are often quick to acquiesce to discount demands and pricing pressure in the field.

So, what gives? How is it that people who are so confident by nature can become spineless jellyfish at the negotiation table?

The answer is pretty obvious…

Far too often, salespeople just don’t buy what they’re selling. They believe in themselves, while not believing in the products or services they’re representing. They’re confident in their own abilities, while lacking confidence in their offerings’ abilities to provide value. They’re confident delivering the pitch, while lacking confidence in what the pitch is actually saying.

The bottom line is that hiring personally-confident salespeople is just table stakes. And, it’s not enough to just hand them the value propositions and case-building materials. For those salespeople to be really effective at reinforcing and capturing the value of your offerings, they actually have to believe what those things are saying.

In other words, make the first sale to your salespeople. Because if they aren’t sold on the value of your offerings—if they really don’t believe your value propositions—all the personal confidence in the world won’t make a bit of difference.

Get Immediate Access To Everything In The SellingBrew Playbook

Related Resources

  • Working With "Bad" Sales Data

    In most businesses, there are so many moving parts that working with perfect data just isn't very realistic. In this session, learn a strategic approach to making meaningful progress with inaccurate and incomplete datasets.

    View This Webinar
  • A Better Approach to Incentivizing Sales Behaviors

    In this expert interview with Giles House of CallidusCloud, we discuss how companies are moving beyond simply managing their incentive plans more efficiently and are now seeking to use their data to design compensation plans that are significantly more effective.

    View This Interview
  • How to Maximize Cross-Selling and Up-Selling

    Effective cross-selling and up-selling requires operational solutions that only Sales Ops can deliver. In this on-demand webinar, learn how some innovative groups are making happen---efficiently, effectively, and very profitably

    View This Webinar
  • How to Improve Your Sales Pipeline Analysis

    Pipeline analytics is great for reporting on current performance, but it can do so much more. This guide outlines 12 strategies for improving deal probability, velocity and value across every salesperson in your sales operation.

    View This Guide