For those of us who remember Dr Julius Sumner-Miller,  recall him probe… ”and we ask, why is it so?”

It’s obvious really.  Saddle up your palomino, and go route ride with just about any Oz B2B Sales Exec as they conduct a day of customer visits out on territory, and see for yourself.  Well 82% of them, according to salesforce.com research.

But it’s not their fault (82% of these unwitting, offending Sales Professionals).

It’s the fault of the organisations that employ and train them. Features-Advantages-Benefits. Objection handling skills. Negotiation skills.  Product/Service technical application training. How to close the sale without the customer feeling like you are closing the sale.  More and more of these so-called sales force effectiveness training interventions.

But customers have had enough of the output of this. To them, most product and services are becoming more and more commoditised.  The value that COULD be offered  by the team of Sales Execs has the potential to transcend way beyond the competitive differential value of the products and services that they promote.  But the Sales Professionals can’t do it on their own.  Their sales organisations need to re-define sales force effectiveness and create the environment and systems for them to be truly “trusted advisors” in the eyes of their customers.  That will require training , knowledge, skills above and beyond products and services.  These Sales Professionals need to be experts in the industry of their customers and to be able to deliver insights that help them compete better in their markets.

Dr Julius Sumner-Miller… this is why it is so.