Are you a sales pioneer?

“Sales Pioneer” was voted as the Number Seven Sales Trends for 2011. As the business world and selling become increasingly complicated, the Sales Pioneer is emerging to help us all map a pathway to the future.

Unafraid to ask the hard questions, uncover new opportunities and challenge the precepts and ideas of their clients and companies alike, the 21st Century Sales Pioneer is not afraid to stand up and be counted.

The 21st Century Sales Pioneer works in healthy and dynamic collaboration with clients including procurement, internal teams and allied suppliers. Above all these pioneers are educators, teaching clients how to improve their businesses. If you’re thinking about refreshing or realigning your sales team in 2011 consider finding, developing and retaining the Sales Pioneer to give you an edge this year and beyond.

Sales Pioneers are far from being “yes” men or women and aren’t able to be bullied or tyrannised by prevailing views and attitudes. This is precisely what “market challenger” companies will want to recruit in 2011 and beyond. This more articulate, professional and conceptual breed of sales person is definitely not well suited to compliant or transactional sales cultures. They are the first to enter new territories, open up new vistas, challenge our thinking and take us to better places where we can benefit.

Sales Pioneers sell insight. They deliver insight to making better buying decisions in a complex ambiguous world.

Sales Pioneers sell results. They sell results through education, creativity and collaboration and work with clients to deliver tangible results.

Sales Pioneers coordinate multiple stakeholders. They realise the buying decision is increasingly spread across multiple stakeholders all vying for input onto their collective futures.

Sales Pioneers create a planned approach for change. This requires patience, the ability to deal with ambiguity and complexity, excellent listening, questioning and reflecting skills, the ability to work across a range of stakeholders and understand their buying behaviours, commercial acumen and awareness, open mindedness, curiosity, as well as courage to take the lead.

How do you manage a Sales Pioneer?

A domineering, command and control leadership approach will not work here. Nor will a weak, uninspiring visionless business keep or attract the Sales Pioneer.

Unlike the 600lb Sales Gorilla or transactional sales people, Sales Pioneers thrive on curiosity, creativity, collaboration, continuous learning and having a clear purpose to anchor their talents to. In short you provide leadership for Sales Pioneers and they will in turn lead you to the future.

Give them a compelling vision, a clear message, and the tools to go and create business for you. Above all give them your trust. Trust them to help you map your pathway forward to the future just as they can do for your clients.

How do you create Sales Pioneers?

Most likely, true Sales Pioneers are born with these enviable talents and probably never quite fitted the transactional sales culture. However, this doesn’t mean less entrepreneurial sales people can’t develop some of the same skills and attributes.

Sales training is critical. Your people are key to successful business and so, developing their business and commercial acumen is really worthwhile given the more complex business landscape we find ourselves in.

In response to this we have developed the Barrett’s Business Acumen for Sales Professionals Program which is designed to show sales people and sales managers how businesses work and what clients are looking for beyond the obvious product pitch. Knowing how your offering works in concert with your clients overall business is what Sales Pioneers are really good at. You can teach knowledge and awareness to people so they better understand clients and work with them as business professionals not just product sales people.

The right sales training and coaching for your people coupled with the right work environment gives you the recipe for a team of sales pioneers. Make an “open” working environment, encourage curiosity and ideas and don’t shy away from questions being asked. Don’t tell a Sales Pioneer what to think, show them how to think. Demonstrate possibilities, options and choice and show them how to create and achieve results.

Sales Pioneers will fundamentally change your business and your clients’ businesses for the better. How courageous are you to create a Sales Pioneering team and culture?

Remember, everybody lives by selling something.

Sue Barrett practices as a coach, advisor, speaker, facilitator, consultant and writer and works across all market segments with her skilful team at BARRETT. Sue and her team take the guess work out of selling and help people from many different careers become aware of their sales capabilities and enable them to take the steps to becoming effective and productive when it comes to selling, sales coaching or sales leadership.To hone your sales skills or learn how to sell go to www.barrett.com.au.