Your mindset is critical to your success in sales. (Any job really) I work with many sales teams and there is a fear just beneath the surface with many salespeople negatively impacting their performance today:
“Will my job be eliminated with automation?”
“Will e-commerce and digitalization be the end of salespeople?
“Will virtual sales be the final death blow to face to face selling?”
The reality is some transactional sales roles that involve order entry and/or order verification and communicating ship dates will be replaced by automation, it’s just a matter of when. However, there are skills our sales teams need to develop that the Bots cannot replace.
How do we make the role of salesperson “automation proof?”
A report from McKinsey estimates that close to half of all US jobs may be automated in the next decade. Automation technologies including AI and robotics will generate significant benefits for users, businesses, and economies.
No wonder some sales teams are afraid. The trouble with fear is it does not motivate but cripples’ salespeople.
Buyers today are sharing what they want from salespeople, and it is product and market insights they cannot find in online searches today.
Buyers are hungry to meet with salespeople who can connect the dots between what they are selling and how it will impact the buyers’ bottom line, but sadly less than 14% of salespeople are today. This leads us to the question:
What skills can we develop in our sales teams that are automation proof? Is it any surprise the status quo (doing nothing) costs sellers more lost sales than competitors?
Our job today as modern sales leaders is to shape and coach the path strategically understanding both buyers and our salespeople.
What are the top 3 skills we can develop to make our salespeople “automation proof?
Communication Skills – Are your salespeople skilled at having virtual conversations that lead to revenue? (They need to be)
Consultative Selling Skills – Having great discovery and qualifying questions that lead the salesperson to discover challenges their customers have and the financial impact not closing them will have on their bottom-line.
Empathy – If there’s something that makes us human, it’s empathy. Even with top-level AI, they cannot empathize with someone. In other words, robots cannot truly understand nor connect with people on an emotional level.
Value-Based Sales Skills – Far too many salespeople sell based on price and not value today. Salespeople must be taught how to articulate and reinforce the value their products and services deliver the buyer.
What sales skills do your salespeople have and what skills do they need to develop for today?
Do you need to restructure and up skill your sales team?
Are your salespeople “automation proof”?
From my experience, buyers’ value trusted advisors who listen authentically and deliver value in every interaction. Buyers want and need powerful market and business insights that will impact their bottom line.
My advice to those salespeople and some sales managers that fear their jobs may be eliminated is to focus on developing skills that are automation proof.
If you are curious about your sales team, the skills they have and the skills they may need in the future please contact me and let’s discuss how we can quickly answer those questions and help your team become automation proof.
