Think About It… the e-book version

by Todd Youngblood

What are the three core responsibilities of a sales professional?

(NOTE: After publication, I found out that the REAL source of this idea came from The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. I bought the book. It’s really, really good! Follow this link, and get a copy.)

One of my early-career mentors posed the above question to me every December. As I stumbled through my answer, he’d keep me focused by repeatedly asking me to identify the top three activities that must be consistently well executed to produce the required results. It took me a long time to realize that good old Bob was far less interested in my answer than he was in the thought process behind it. In any case, it’s December again, and here’s what I think…

Innovation – Everything I’ve ever learned about economics points to the fact that the innovative idea is the ultimate source of value and progress. And it’s not just the big ideas, like e=mc2, it’s also the little ideas that can accumulate, aggregate and advance an organization toward its goals. As a sales rep I must provide a steady stream of innovative ideas that might just maybe make my customer more efficient, effective and profitable.

Quantification - Ideas are a dime a dozen. The rep who provides nothing to customers beyond a stream of ideas is annoying. (Read that last sentence again!) As a sales rep I must logically, clearly and succinctly articulate not only how my idea can improve the customer’s operation, but also by how much. I need to quantify the financial impact of implementing and using my idea and demonstrate the compelling business case for acting on it.

Orchestration – Ya’ gotta’ make it happen. The rep who does nothing more than talk a good game is worse than annoying. As a sales rep I must get the decision-maker and all of the influencers singing from the same page. They must all vividly see how my idea helps each of them individually and their organization as a whole. That’s the first half of orchestration. Then I must coordinate the design, order processing, shipping, receiving, packing, un-packing, training, integrating, updating, modifying, repairing, improving, etc., etc., etc. If anything goes awry anywhere along the line, it’s my responsibility as the rep to make it right. I’m the conductor, and if the symphony sounds bad, it’s because I dropped the ball.

You might not agree with me about these three fundamental responsibilities. You might even put off by the fact that I believe your product or service does not belong on the list. You do, though, run the risk of becoming competitively obsolete unless you…