In the previous post we looked at sales organizations who train their teams in a "proven" system. As mentioned, those systems are good if someone is new to sales, but there is plenty of room to make adjustments when the failure rate of the sales team is high. So I wondered why trained sales people fail and what can be done about it?
Probably the biggest reason sales people don't succeed is that their expectations of success are not realistic. I lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of the person hiring them. As mentioned in previous posts, I truly think someone should enact a "truth in hiring" law. And not just concerning the pay, but the work conditions and expectations too.
Over the years various companies have tried to recruit me with their "proven system of success". If I just follow directions I will be happy and exceeding wealthy working for them. Maybe I'm a bit cynical, but if that was the case, they wouldn't need to recruit so many people.
A friend of mine, who had been in the insurance business for years, was hired to work for a life insurance carrier a few years ago. She already had prospects lined up, was comfortable in a system that she had learned years earlier and was all ready to see clients. Unfortunately, her new sales managers immediately began treating her like a rookie.
"I told them to get off my back," she recounted. "They wanted to go with me on appointments and see if I was following their script. What were they thinking?" And even though she was one of the top producers in the office, the managers wouldn't let it go. After a year, she had enough and quit.
These kinds of stories are common. In fact, it has happened to me when I was working for a large life insurance carrier. We were to get a "fact finder" from every client, which was a questionnaire that was kept in the client's file. A friend of mine called one evening and said he had borrowed some money from a family member and needed a small policy to secure the loan. He knew exactly what he wanted, so there was no need for a formal fact finder.
My manager thought otherwise though. "We have a system that works. Stop fighting it and surrender to it!" he'd say. He insisted that I go through the laborious process, even though it was completely unnecessary. I had a couple of options, one being to fabricate a fact finder, which I didn't do. Instead, I just placed the policy with another carrier. When my manager asked about it a week later I told him that I lost the sale because the client didn't want to disclose all of his personal information. Yes, it was a big fat lie, but I still got the sale and kept my friendship intact.
During that same time, I noticed that a couple of our new agents, who were young college graduates, had begun booking appointments using Facebook. Instead of "smiling an dialing" like the rest of us, they would simply use the chat function and set appointments. Again, the managers were upset that these rookies were "bucking the system" when they should have applauded them for getting those appointments in the first place.
In my opinion, if the proven system doesn't work for you or you just feel more comfortable doing it another way, that's okay as long as you're still making the sale. Tweaking the system won't hurt anyone and finding other ways to look for prospects is fine if it is working for you.
With social media being the new 600 pound gorilla, I have managed to find many new clients through LinkedIn, a Facebook business page and even Instagram. And in the era of Covid_19, when networking and face-to-face meetings are all but gone, any new way to find clients and close the sale will give you an edge.
If you have any suggestions for our readers on "out of the box" ways to prospect, leave them in the comments section. And in the meantime, stay healthy!
Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
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