Doug DavidoffIncreasingly, over the last twenty years “Promise, Pitch & Pray,” has become the battle cry of the sales profession. And, while I’ve never embraced that approach, in all honesty that’s probably all you needed to do to be successful in sales five to ten years ago.
For most of the last 20 years, you only needed to do three things well to succeed in sales:
- Make a strong clear promise
- Present the promise well
- Be likeable
However, as the complexity and pressures of business have increased the demands on salespeople have ratcheted up exponentially. In an "copy-cat" markets, where buyers don't fully understand their problems, making a promise is not enough.
To be successful today, you must - MUST - become a resource for your customers and prospects. You must position yourself in a way that allows you to enter "sales" conversations before there is anything to buy.
In a world where every competitor makes a strong promise, merely promising is not enough. To succeed today and in the future, the only difference that matters lies in now you to go-to-market and how you sell. Invest in the capabilities of your salespeople to run them into "businesspeople who sell," and you will build the unfair competitive advantage you need.