The results of research on the changing sales landscape – and what customers really want from salespeople – are now available in a white paper from Blue Sky Performance Improvement. Marc Jantzen, chief executive at Blue Sky, first presented the initial findings at the ISMM’s Successful Selling conference, and this is part of ongoing research into driving sales improvement by Blue Sky and the ISMM.
A survey was sent to ISMM members and customers and its goal was straightforward: to establish exactly what qualities customers are looking for in today’s sales professionals as well as asking fundamental questions such as ‘What do people want today in a salesperson?’ and ‘What would put you off buying from someone?’
There was an excellent response that offers insight into what really matters to customers and what they expect from today’s salespeople. For example, 77% of customer respondents stated that honesty, integrity and authenticity were more important than ever, while many buyers also suggested that ‘pushy’ sales staff were their single biggest turn-off.
But sales staff themselves said the main reasons for losing sales were pricing being too high and propositions being undifferentiated. And sales leaders said the reasons for not closing deals related more to an inability to create value, and still selling solutions.
