In the old days, salespeople were the experts we relied on to educate us about products and services. In a world where we didn’t have the ability to go online to conduct independent research, buyers were at the mercy of sellers. Of course, that’s not true anymore. Yet many sales managers still run their teams as if it is.
Fortunately, we no longer have to rely on salespeople as the primary form of education. We search and connect and check reviews. It’s simple to connect with colleagues on social media to ask about their experience with a product, idea, or company.
The most important aspect of the sales process is no longer the buyer’s education by the seller.
Your salespeople should assume that they are the last place a buyer goes, not the first.
As buyers are looking for what we have to offer, they actively bypass our salespeople. They know what they want, and they know how to get it, far from your beautiful old sales funnel.
To be effective in this world, salespeople and their management team must assume that very little of their knowledge is proprietary. They need to facilitate the sale, not control the information.
