Salespeople are dead; long live Salespeople! Part 2

Customer-first? So let's adopt his point of view.

But here is the issue with the titles given previously: most of them focus on the wrong side of the equation. They define what the individuals do for their employer, not what they do for their customers. Go over the list given once more and put yourself in the Customer's shoes. Now tell me which one is focusing on you.

Interestingly, salespeople’s title seems to be a taboo topic. Indeed, many articles are taking a robust approach against anyone who even dares to think about the possibility of changing their title from salespeople (or one of its derivatives) to anything else. If you are unpleased with your title or wonder if this is the right way of describing what you do, it might be because you are ashamed of what you do for a living. They also argue that by rebranding your title, you might forget the ABC of the job: "Always Be Closing." But I see two flaws here.

First: if your job is to sell, except if you have Dory’s memory, aka Nemo’s friend, it is really difficult to forget your KPI (Key Performance Indicator). The recurrences of business and pipeline reviews are such that they keep reminding you, if not daily, at least weekly, what your job is all about. And if you have never been part of one of those reviews, let's watch the actor Alec Baldwin give you a taste of it, reminding you what ABC stands for and why "coffee is only for closers" (extract from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross). Yes, Hollywood always exaggerates…

Second. Most of the titles given in an organization are meant to help understand the role and function of an employee within the structure. It is a bit like an internal roadmap to understanding who does what and where. And it makes sense … as long as it remains for internal usage. It might sound trivial, but how many business cards - I know they are old fashioned but stay with me - would, for example, a network engineer or a person in charge of payroll give away in one year? Business cards are a mere indicator of your level of interaction with the outside world but still. If you are not given any, it means that the organization does not expect you to interact with the outside world: your role does not imply you to. And in that case, your title can be as descriptive as you want, using internal jargon; it does not matter since it is an internal affair.

But when your job is actually to interact with the person for whom Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, always keeps an empty seat at his meeting, aka the Customer, then it is a different ball game. Then you want your business card to be a tool to support your mission, not to sabotage it.

Words are powerful

Words are powerful because they carry more than a meaning. They deliver a message. Let's say you are sitting in a restaurant and reviewing the menu. Which one of the following side dishes would you be more inclined to order:

• 1/ pomme puree

• 2/ mashed potatoes

• 3/ a 95% margin item potatoes based?

Don't worry in the end, and you will eat the same for the same price. But what about the promise? What about the experience? Let's stick to food and talk about Emirates. In 2011, the Dubai-based airline was absent from the prestigious Skytrax airline industry award. It's when it decided to focus on the onboard meal experience switching from "its people focusing on executing a logistic operation" towards "starting to delight their guests with an incredible selection of dishes." Pure semantic? Maybe but it worked and had a tremendous impact (see more here).

If your role involves interacting with Customers, then your title should explain why he/she should spend time with you. What would be his/her benefits of doing so? Not what you do for your company. In case you want to continue with the current path, why not be 100% transparent and, instead of salespeople, use names like "Margin Contributor," "Market Shares Seeker," or "Revenue Generator," depending on the company's strategy? In any case, "selling" or any derivative should not be used since it is not the objective. Peter Drucker, the father of business management, is clear about it. “The purpose of business is not to make a profit but to satisfy the needs and expectations of customers. The consequence of satisfied customers is incremental profit." Selling is induced by the willingness to serve the Customer. Customers are interested in what salespeople can do for them rather than what salespeople can do for their employers.

‘There is only one valid definition of a business purpose:

To create a customer” - Peter Drucker

To be continued in Part 3