For years, people have speculated over the death of sales, arguing that the role can be replaced by ecommerce and digital marketing. However, good salespeople continue to have a value in companies. Sales professionals currently make up 7% of the UK workforce and we have seen an increase in the number of vacancies for sales people. As markets recover from the recession, businesses need astute and commercial sales professionals to secure their positions and make the most of the uplift.
A good salesperson will bring to a company a range of values that cannot be replaced by alternative marketing methods. They will be experts in their field, and well-connected within their customer base. They will be naturally likeable and excellent at relationship-building. They will be able to quickly identify leads worth pursuing and know how to communicate with these people. They will be passionate about their product and be able to explain how it will benefit their client. This ability to create an emotional impact is still extremely important in the marketplace. It is ultimately this personal connection that often makes the sale, rather than the product or the company branding.
A good salesperson can easily cover their costs and add to a company’s bottom line within 6 months of being hired; something which is unlikely to be true of any other position within a company. Successful companies are still very aware of this.
Sales professionals who can win new business, grow existing accounts and take business away from a company’s competitors are extremely valuable and highly sought after in the current market place. If you have these qualities, why not visit the Hays Sales website and see how we can help you take the next step in your sales career.
Hi Jonathan, I believe you make a great point and one that I believe most people would agree on given it some thought. One thing that I think is a big difference is which "sales logic" you're looking at. In transactional sales I do believe that the number sales people will be greatly reduced and the role itself reduced to a much more junior position.
ReplyDeleteIn complex sales with longer sales cycles and much more sophisticated solutions and services the role of a sales person can never be automated simply due to the fact that each deal is unique, the hurdles and often solutions are different all the time.
This is why we've seen a trend for almost a decade of a stronger separation between the two (transactional/complex), and if I was a sales rep within a transactional sales company I'd definitely give this some thinking time on what this means for me and my company.
Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteWell said. I believe that what was originally thought to be the death of sales is actually a transition of the traditional role. Today the salesperson is expected to be an avid web marketer, thought leader, and altogether social advocate of whatever he or she is selling.