In the comments of ‘Facts vs Fiction – Social Media Tools in B2B Selling’ I found the following from Jacques Werth:
“[…] The reason that selling is dying is because the basic concept of how to sell is obsolete. Selling, as the Art of Persuasion, is dead. It was killed by Information Overload. The markets for every product and service are far more sophisticated than ten years ago.
- Cold-calling doesn’t work anymore.
- Lead acquisition methods are costly and inefficient.
- Finding needs has become counter-productive.
- Establishing Rapport has become counter-productive.
- Educating prospects has become counter-productive.
- Selling benefits turns off most prospects.
- Persuasion causes resistance.
- Selling points have become resistance points.
- Consultative selling has been show to be fraudulent.
- Closing techniques do not work.
- Overcoming objections kills sales.
Top sales producers do not do any of the above. Their sales processes are simple, yet highly effective.
- They know how to find prospects that are ready, willing, and able to buy.
- They know how to develop immediate relationships of mutual trust and respect.
- They know how to determine prospects’ exact buying intentions.
- They know the importance of assessing prospects’ conditions of satisfaction.
- They know how to quickly arrive at mutual agreements and mutual commitments.
- They know how to have prospects’ enthusiastically close the sale.”
Obviously this does not tell us how to become or create a top sales producer but it shows all that is broken and won’t work in a Sales 2.0 world anymore.
In one of his own blog posts Jacques Werth goes on to say…
“[…] There are no secret tips. There are no magic tricks. Effective selling is about finding a sales process that works, following that process carefully, and measuring the results. Pay attention to doing it right. You can’t learn how to sell just by reading articles or participating in sales discussion groups. Although it is possible to learn to sell by reading a lot of books, this doesn’t work for most people.
Books and CD’s can teach you a great deal about selling, but not much about the step-by-step details on how to actually do it. For that, we recommend training and practice. […]”
B2B Sales Enablement and Sales Tech SaaS 
I’m sorry but I disagree with a lot of what Jacque has written.
I do agree that sales has changed but it started changing over 20 years ago, it just takes some people loner to realize it.
In the first set of bullets Jacque says:
“Establishing Rapport has become counter-productive.”
Then in the second set of bullets he writes:
“They know how to develop immediate relationships of mutual trust and respect.”
What does he think Rapport is ?
In fact, it’s establishing trust and respect.
I think it’s more about HOW you build rapport these days.
And it’s not by talking about golf, or tennis etc
I think I understand where he is coming from but his description is vague and ambiguous.
To me it’s about selling to an INDIVIDUAL. The only benefits that interest a prospect are the ones relevant to THEM. Sure you’ll get resistance if you push benefits that are irrelevant to a buyer.
And selling is still valid because some people will procrastinate. They need someone to convince them that NOW is the time to buy.
Likewise, it’s nonsense to say “Overcoming objections kills sales”.
I would say not knowing how to overcome sales objections kills the confidence of many sales people. And seriously hinders their results.
I could go on and on. But I agree that sales has changed. Sales people need to be less slick and more genuine, concerned for their prospect, able to understand how they think and communicate and what’s important to them. That takes trust and courage and integrity.
Greg
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Hi Greg, Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective. I will share your comment with Jacque. Thanks. Paul
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