Debunking the Myth of the Natural Born Sales Leader
At Griffin Hill we often hear sales leaders express the desperate hope that they could simply hire a natural born sales person or someone with the “sales gene.” When pressed to identify the characteristics of the natural born sales person they mention traits such as the gift of gab, charisma, and physical attractiveness. While those traits are certainly advantageous it does not guarantee results.
Debunking the natural born sales person theory does not mean that the classical sales attributes lack value in sales people. It does point out that managers and sales leaders cannot rely on the “sales gene.” Gifted and talented sales people still need training, coaching, and accountability for performance measures.
Knowledge alone will not make you a “natural born” sales person any more than the knowledge of the game of chess will make you a world master. To become a natural born sales person, you will need ongoing study, practice, and feedback from a coach who is experienced and skilled. Doing so will help improve sales skills, close a higher percentage of business, and secure a competitive advantage.
Systems are power. At Griffin Hill we took the Secrets of the Top 1% and captured a powerful system called the Integrity Sales System. This system has been scientifically proven to generate entirely new levels of sales success. This system, which is not unlike the systems used in athletics, is built upon processes, plays, metrics, and coaching.
At Griffin Hill we know from statistical research that most training interventions that create initial gains are typically followed by a period of decay in performance. Usually after 90 days of the intervention, all the realized benefits have vanished. It’s called “cybernetic regression” and it is consistent with the human condition in every endeavor.
Human performance vacillates around a norm. There are good days and bad days which, over time, describe a certain “norm.” We rarely perform at the norm. We cross it all the time. VP’s of Sales and Sales Managers intuitively understand this idea. They put up sales quotas for the month. That’s a way to try to dictate normative behavior. Though cybernetic systems work within tolerances, much like a thermostat, the word “regression” describes the way our performance has a way to fall backwards away from peak production toward the norm. Particularly because most “goal”-based motivational systems, no matter how ambitious, have been shown to limit growth by placing a cap on expectations rather than spurring innovation.
By learning and deploying the Integrity Sales System, you can expect to achieve rapid, substantial and sustainable revenue results. You will do that by parsing the problem of closing a sale--taking it apart like a technology and seeing how the parts interact.
You will put the odds of success in your favor by systematically reducing friction in the sales relationship, engaging emotionally, physically and intellectually and understanding the four key elements of Human Performance Technology: Process, Metrics, Plays and Coaching.
The changes you will make to your approach will do more than increase your revenues. They will improve your interactions with your current customers and enhance the professionalism of your customer service. They can make the sales process become more enjoyable and help develop a culture of success among your employees where sales experiences, tactics and insights are spontaneously communicated and discussed.
They will raise the esteem of your sales personnel through increased success percentages and close rates and through a deepened understanding of the pivotal role each of them play in nurturing each sales relationship. They will make you more productive by shortening the sales cycle (the time it takes to close a sale), freeing up time for you to finally confront other important challenges facing your company.