We don't need Salespeople anymore

With  “Artificial Intelligence”, fast taking over some of the processes salespeople and appointment setters would do- like prospecting, marketing, client Servicing, and in some cases closing sales. Also, since a core principle of successful business is to "keep costs down"  things are moving more and more towards automating all sales processes so it would seem as though the salesperson has become obsolete. Being a salesperson myself I started to feel a little uneasy.

I had an eye-opening experience the other day when I was speaking to the service provider for my CRM, which I’ve been using for years, and realized others could benefit from. So I decided to package it for resale along with our other solutions. The girl I usually deal with (Well call her April)  is my customer service/tech support person she always solved my problems. I told her I wanted to find out how to set-up and price my packages for resale. You’d think it a simple request since they sell the CRM solution. I was wrong,

I asked the question and April starts talking about the system, I ask for this in writing because I need to see what she's talking about. She says it’s best to set up call, so we set a meeting two days out.  We connect and she starts to tell me things about 3 different packages and what they charge for each, how to use the system, and a lot of other information I didn't ask for and already knew. It became very confusing and after about 5 minutes of me asking the same question and getting different answers but not the answer to the question. I asked April “Hey, I’m not good at digesting verbal info that's complex can you send me this in sales slick PDF or something?  She seemed to be looking around for a moment and then said “Sorry we don’t have anything in writing for that.”

At this point, I’ve spent over 22 minutes and  I see the call as useless, so I thanked her for her time and hung up.  I realized then I was worse off than before I got on that call! Ever had that experience?  I remembered there was a guy (we’ll call him Alex) that I had dealt with a few years prior who worked in sales.  I found his info and contacted him with the same request. "I need to find out how to set up and price my packages for resale."  Alex emailed me back his calendar and we set up a call. We got on the call and he doesn't start off spewing information. He seemed to follow a process…

1st he confirmed he understood what I was looking for, and told me what to expect in the call

2nd He “showed” me how  they price their packages

3rd He told me what the avg markup is for the industry

4th He “showed” me 2 different options on setting  up each packages features

5th He recapped it all and confirmed I had no more questions.

6th Asked for the order and I brought.

This was all done in about 15 minutes.

Reflecting on this after I got off this call, I realized that Salespeople are and may always be needed.  Even though I follow a similar process as Alex, and I help people every day with their needs issues and challenges; I’d forgotten the value of what we do.  

A Salesperson helps a Business or Individual  get what they want by basically:

1st Confirming an understanding of what's needed

2nd Letting the person know what to expect from  you

3rd  Provide a solution for their needs or letting them know you don’t have a solution

4th Make it easy for them to buy it.

Of course, these are the fundamental steps that can be expanded out but without these actions, we more often than not end up with no sale, and a confused person.

So if any salesperson out there is feeling underappreciated and of low value, know this.  You ARE NOT ONLY NEEDED BUT NECESSARY!

Have a Fantastic Day!