The Human Element

In the development of art, the painter uses colors, canvas, and brushes; the sculptor uses stone and chisel; the photographer uses camera and film. Every art has its different instruments, but the instrument of the sales rep is himself.

In order to express the subtle points of a product, to persuade a client and to turn a difficult situation into a successful close, the sales rep must be in control of a usually responsive instrument. He must be trained to reproduce complex facts and feelings with great skill, sensitivity, and drive. He needs to learn how to fit his own human qualities into the role of the professional salesperson.

Many companies spend thousands of dollars to train salespeople, but very few help them integrate professional knowledge and skills into their existing personalities. They tend to overlook the fact that when the sales rep calls on a client, he not only represents the company, but also himself as a human being.

This may explain why many salespeople fail to get excited about sales training courses. They respond to training with attitudes of indifference which makes learning (and teaching) more difficult.

Sales trainers tend to fall into the common error of teaching too much. In many courses, they start to pound the new material into their students, teaching more and more about the outside forces of selling. Instead, we must help salespeople to learn more about the inside forces operating during a sales call.

Salespeople must learn to harness these energies to grow to higher level selling skills.

Rediscover "inner" talents

Instead of keeping the class busy by attempting to transform each sales rep into a walking product encyclopedia, it should be the trainer’s role to assist salespeople to rediscover their own talents and potential for exceptional performance on the job.

Many salespeople at one time or another have had great moments when they displayed unique professional skills. However, this does not mean that they have perfected their abilities to the point that they are able to repeat their own best performances at will. More often than not, they will vaguely recall how they reached a high point and try to go through the presentation mechanically with little investment of emotional force.

The trainer has to realize that the essence of selling does not lie in the manipulation of external forms but in the projection of the salesperson’s spiritual structure. If the presentation has no inner foundation, it cannot hold the buyer’s attention and interest.

Exceptional sales reps do not allow themselves to present anything externally that they have not inwardly experienced. They attempt to create inside themselves another, deeper, and more interesting life than the one which actually surrounds them. They won’t copy enthusiasm, nor fake genuine interest; they actually live these emotions. They bring them to life through imagination. Sincerity of feelings that project their personal and professional unity is what they expect of themselves. They will settle for no less.

Thus, when they counter the buyer’s objection, "Your price is too high!" with the words, "I am surprised to hear that… (pause)…how do you compare the price?" they are able to project their genuine surprise verbally and nonverbally. They master the pause in between and directs the follow-up questions, accompanied by well-synchronized open palm gestures. This exceptional performance contrasts sharply with the tedious struggle of the amateur, as illustrated by the comments of a young sales rep: "When I am at home, I rehearse my sales presentation. I talk to my wife and practice in front of a mirror. Sometimes, I am really impressed with how well I do. But when I am in front of a prospect, I feel that there are long stretches of nervous let-downs where my performance becomes lifeless, stilted, or unnatural. Sometimes I realize the difficulty of fitting into new and unfamiliar surroundings. Part of my energies seem to be misdirected by concentrating my attention on what’s going on around me. I can’t get over this hurdle. During these moments, I go through the motions and feel unable to do my best."

To avoid this common difficulty, the sales rep has to become confident and competent in both roles: the role of the sales rep and the role of himself as a human being.

How can a trainer address this issue?

The trainer’s challenge is the art of drawing an increased sense of self-worth out of salespeople – not pumping artificial values into them. The art is to help them become what they really are.

Step-by-step learning

Sales reps in a training class should first be allowed to exhibit their qualities and thus teach the trainer what to teach.

Role-plays are vital instruments for creating awareness of the need for learning product knowledge and selling skills. Many trainers or sales managers tend to overlook that the ego investment during role-plays provides the "emotionally significant" experience necessary for personal and professional growth.

It’s the role-play that increases the salesperson’s awareness of this dual personality: One is his professional self, the other is his personal self. The personal self is the human being who assists the professional self as a commentator and continually points out the significance of what he is doing or saying.

This internal process may sometimes cause an uncomfortable feeling of distraction. Typically, salespeople would rather talk about their poor role-play performance and complain about the lack of realism, instead of recognizing what internal forces contributed to their (very real) disappointing performance.

It’s the trainer’s role to teach salespeople to manage the conflicts between Self-One (professional self) and Self-Two (human being). These management abilities are best developed through a series of "micro-role-plays" (less than one minute in length).

Here is an example:

First Step: The sales rep is asked to sit comfortably in a chair and to present a single product feature and the corresponding customer benefit. No gestures or movements are allowed. (Exclusive focus on the verbal presentation.)

Second Step: The sales rep is told to walk in long strides, repeating the verbal presentation without particular attention to gestures. (Focus on verbal presentation and expressive motion.)

Third Step: The sales rep is instructed to walk very slowly, this time whispering the (same) verbal presentation, with no particular attention to gestures. (Focus on controlled verbal expression and controlled motion.)

Fourth Step: The sales rep is asked to sit next to an assumed buyer (actually a peer) and to repeat the verbal presentation with the use of their normal tone of voice and genuine nonverbal expressions.

The internal experience of these micro-role-plays teaches how to bring to life what is hidden behind the distracting voice of Self-Two: the integration of the professional self into the personal self.

The professional role has to be developed from within the sales rep by alternately focusing on separate skills and by reuniting these for greater results. Role-plays also teach sales reps how to synchronize the many different tunes of their human instrument: verbal expressions, motion, nonverbal expressions, and empathy.

Each action, motion or word – whatever happens during a sales call – must be directed towards the ultimate purpose, the creation of the sale.

Selling can’t be reduced to a mechanical science. Nor can training. The critical inner voice of Self-Two is a telltale sign that the salesperson – or the trainer – has not inwardly experienced what he is presenting mechanically. Their mutual task is to develop the exceptional salesperson from within and to continue the creation by tapping into the imaginative and emotional parts of Self-Two (the human being).

Many salespeople have the talents and the potential for superior performance. It is the challenge of the trainer to unlock this force through creative role play exercises (from micro-role-plays to a complete call) with increased focus on verbal and nonverbal effectiveness.

If the sales rep’s performance is expected to be exceptional, the training process must also be exceptional.