Sales is such a strange profession that almost all of us get into by accident.
Each sales department consists of people with different education, experience, training and internships. The seller is often a would-be lawyer, a non-professional engineer or a fresh graduate of a humanities field of study.
Reason? There is no such thing as a sales school in the educational system. There are trade schools and economic studies, but they are not the same. These are not places where we will learn any specific, "universal" sales system that will allow us to easily enter a trading company in the future and achieve success as a seller. Just like it happens, for example, after medical or law studies.
When you are a law graduate, regardless of which law firm you go to, you are based on one applicable code that you learned during your studies. If you decide to become a doctor, regardless of the medical facility you go to, you will be based on one and the same science that you learned at university.
Another reason why Sales is an "accidental" profession is the belief that it is not an "ennobling" profession - at least in the imagination of young, ambitious people who think about their future. I don't think I've ever met a person who at school dreamed of becoming a salesperson in the future. People want to become doctors, lawyers, actors, but not salespeople. No wonder at all. Who, full of dreams, would like to work in a job that is associated with a salesman, a peddler or an intruder who is constantly kicked out the door?
The above "randomness" is the root of many sales problems. Well, how can we analyze the effectiveness of the sales process if everyone speaks a "different" language? How can we scale the business if everyone goes in a "slightly" different direction? Or how can we draw conclusions from the actions of our people if everyone has their own way of selling?
Of course, companies try to standardize salespeople's competences and provide a consistent direction. Management boards organize training and introduce KPIs, but unfortunately many of these activities are punctual, transitory, and often even inconsistent. There is no uniform, comprehensive sales system that allows the company to operate according to a certain standard, analyze the effectiveness of its own activities and, above all, scale under control.
Just as every company should have a CRM to have knowledge about its customers, every company should have a coherent sales system that is "independent" of the current management or trainers.
I wonder what your thoughts are in this area? A uniform sales thought or rather a diversified approach and lack of systems?
Łukasz Grabowski
Partner; Dyrektor ds. Rozwoju Franczyzy Międzynarodowej, Senior Consultant, Trener
