You know that feeling. And it often comes down to a feeling. A feeling that you have done a good job promoting your company’s services or wares during a customer-facing interaction. So what…

The reality is, it doesn’t matter one bit if the person or people you were speaking to aren’t just as engaged in the dialogue. The only way you’re going to gain any traction in the most important moment of selling is whether or not the person or people you were communicating with have that same feeling. Therein my friend, lies the rub. This is where real selling takes place, I believe.

If the person on the other end of the phone or across the table isn’t at least as excited as you are… you’ve wasted your time. If you can’t combine your product knowledge with the ability to get the prospect engaged in the same dialogue which will help them solve their business problems and frustrations, then you have failed. With the sales people that I have managed and currently manage in my day to day sales operations, the message is the same - If you can’t confirm that the prospect wants to achieve a goal or solve a problem with your solutions… then you have done nothing but what I call “bring the coffee and donuts” to yet another wasted human interaction.

I think this the same situation with so many sales I.T. organizations today. It is a pity that there is so much “waste” in the sales efforts of people who call themselves ’sales professionals’. While I agree that there is a huge responsibility on the part of organizations to ensure that people carrying the ‘bag’ have the right mix of know-how and sales ability… the sad truth is that most I.T. organizations don’t have a clue how to market and sell to their ideal customer profile.

In New Economy Selling, I discuss how to solve this multi-decade old problem.