SELLING IT

Everyone Needs to Understand Sales

I'm not a Salesperson and for most of my career fought the need to step into this role.  I've worked with a number of people who have shared this sentiment often wanting to hand this off to someone who "does" sales in a full-time capacity and not do it themselves.

What I've learned and come to realize over the last few years of starting companies is that everyone in your company must be cognizant in the role they play in fulfilling the need of this function in your organization in order to be successful.

In short, everyone does Sales - you simply didn't know it.

When Everyone is Performing the Sales Function

Everyone from the Developer to the front-desk person answering the phones knows that each interaction in their day contributes to the decision a customer makes when it comes to purchasing or renewing your product or service.

Quick to get off a customer call? Maybe they won't renew next month?

Haven't updated your product UI in ten years? Maybe they won't invest in you if you can't invest in them.

Treating your Vendors poorly? They probably won't be recommending you to any of their other clients.

None of these are sales activities, but they can all contribute to whether a customer will invest in your product and/or service.

When the company is guided by the philosophy that everyone is a part of the Sale and not only one group, the paradigm can shift significantly in how you approach this role.

When the Sales Function Doesn't Exist?

Do we really care who uses our product?  

How do we feel when the phone rings?

What is everyone doing today, for our customer?

If you don't have the sales function in your organization, what are your answers to these questions?  

Do you have any answers to these questions?

Better yet - Should you?

Not Everyone is a Sales Person

This is me, putting up my hand and wholeheartedly agreeing with this statement.  

I've worked with some incredibly talented salespeople over the years that have blown my mind when I hear watch them engage with a customer, how they zero in on their problem set and not their symptoms and how they sell them a product or service that they believe will help them improve their company and organization as a result. Not simply to grow their base.

I'm not there, but in watching these interactions, I have come to appreciate the need for this role and the kick we all need to get over thinking that we "don't do sales".  No one is telling you to go sell $ 1,000,000 worth of software in your first year. Start small, sell a new feature to a client, or even smaller, that new idea you have, work with some new leads and institute a Try before you Buy policy - no pressure, right?

Or even smaller, you the Developer, sell the Product Management team on a new feature customers will love and add value to your product line.

Who said selling is all about money?

Because that's where the real value of your organization starts to emerge. When we all understand the sales function we can start applying the lessons we apply to our customers internally and focus on selling the products and services of our team to each other.  

Like everything, it's not always about getting the sale, sometimes it as much as the journey itself in figuring out what you have to get better at to get the next one.