As the story
goes, Rip Van Winkle wanders up to the mountains to get away from both his
nagging wife and his responsibilities. He meets a man struggling with a keg and
helps him reach his destination where a group of men dressed in antiquated
Dutch garb are playing nine-pins. After imbibing in the contents of the keg, Rip
lies down to take a nap, his musket and dog both at his side. When he wakes up,
it’s to find his musket rusted and rotting, and his dog gone.
He travels back
to town, but doesn’t recognize anybody. He finds his house in ruins, learns
that his wife has passed away, his dog has been long dead, and no one’s seen or
heard from him in 20 years. When he gets into trouble for announcing his allegiance
to King George III, he discovers that he slept through the entire American
Revolution!
This story
reminds me of some of the stories I’ve heard from sales people over the years. They
start by shaking their heads and complaining that selling isn't what it used to
be. As they continue, their frustration with management starts coming through.
I nod my head because I know what they’re going to say. It doesn’t matter which
department their complaining about, it still boils down to the same thing—management
expecting superior results from antiquated tools. What can you do you?
If the Problem
is that marketing is relying too heavily on brand name recognition as their
go-to strategy for getting customers and prospects to say yes…
Your Solution
may be two-fold. You might not be in a position to get management to change
their strategies, but you can still bring great resource—like Hubspot—to their
attention. If they’re slow to embrace digital opportunities, don’t let their
limits become your limits. Improve your position by figuring out where your
tech and web savvy millennial customers are hanging out. Connect with them where
they are, and through resources like LinkedIn, and let that be your edge for
bringing in new business.
Is the Problem
that management is relying on an old CRM, a homegrown CRM, a CRM designed more for
accounting than for sales, or worse yet—no CRM at all?
Your Solution
could be to provide management with information about the value of updating old
systems. Today’s CRMs are more cost effective, and do more than keep track of
customers. Remind them that as a sales professional, knowing your company has a
reliable CRM in place allows you to speak with more confidence about the
products and services your company offers. But again, don’t let their limits
become yours. Make sure you have your own CRM in place if they don’t.
Every
company has built in challenges. If you’ve chosen to stay, then there must be a
good reason why. If you’re comfortable with the thought of snoozing through the
next 20 years, don’t do anything.
If you’d like to be prepared for what comes
after the next 20 years, let’s have a conversation.
Alan Luoma is a Sales Coach with extensive experience in industrial sales, sales management, new product development, sales and product training. He works part time with a national sustainable packaging company and their distributors to increase sales. Alan is an expert that speaks on eliminating behaviors that prevent you from being successful in sales and uncovering sales prevention departments that hinder your success. He is a member of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network, The National Speakers Association and New England Speakers Association. You can view his profile on LinkedIn, or contact him at Luoma@snet.net
