Doctors, lawyers and accountants are certified. Realtors, financial advisors, engineers and, well, even purchasing people are being certified these days. But the list doesn’t stop there. Computer programmers, quality control people, public relations experts and logistics experts have established programs for certification. Is it time for salespeople to also be accredited?

Malcolm: “I’m going to tell you a true story that happened to me recently and actually gave me a source of hope for the sales profession as a whole. Sorry, did that sound cynical?

“I called a meeting with a salesperson from a large company the other day. I wanted to take advantage of using them as a secondary supplier. We hit and missed for a week or more but finally got together. (See, you can miss a meeting and live.)

“I told him I wanted to discuss a few ‘things’. I didn’t get specific, just said a few things. See?

“I’d never met him before but the gentleman arrived looking so fresh out of the box it could have been his first day on the job. I figured something like 25 but I don’t guess ages very well. He had a small portfolio/briefcase and, thank the good Lord, didn’t bring me a single catalog or flyer. Anyway, Mr. Sparkling Clean and I grab a coffee and sit down in a small boardroom and get the small talk out of the way.

“I was just about to nail him with what I’d called him about, when he casually flipped opened his leather binder and explained to me in decent detail how much business we had done together over the past three years. It was paltry.

“Mr. Efficiency not only revealed the figures on the sales we’d done but 1) in which locations we purchased the service, 2) how he had spoken to the managers of these more remote locations, and 3) obtained a feel for the types of products we were using, the frequency and the rates we were charged. All without a clue what I wanted to speak with him about.

“Frank, you know I’m not prone to this but I sat there in sudden, dumbstruck silence. I’m not good at silence as you know, but he had me hogtied. It was like listening to my favorite symphony and Willie Nelson all in one. His words were music to my ears. I thought I had died and gone to purchasing heaven.

“Are you getting any of this, Frank? The boy had done his homework. He’d actually sat down, pulled a few files, contacted people and made notes. He’d taken his time, been methodical and sensible, grasped reality, made a few calculations and assembled a game plan.

“He’d also researched other products and services he could offer us, had a graph indicating prices based upon forecasted volume already printed, identified five or six ‘value-added’ features not provided by their competition and had a contract draft prepared in the event that we came to an immediate agreement. (That shows how young he really was; he was still optimistic.)

“Frank, if I could have hired this guy I would have. He stole the show. All I had to do was listen. And I did listen, Frank, because he had important things to say. I met a true sales professional that day, Frank.

“Why can’t they all be that way?”

Frank: “I had an old friend who relished in the saying, ‘Nobody believes that half the people in America are below average.’ It sounds like the young man you had the good fortune of meeting was definitely above average.”

Malcolm: “You could see this young man had been trained. He didn’t evolve or hatch; the lad was cultivated and educated. It didn’t just happen. He was the product of a serious training program that taught him how to do more than pitch a product. He wasn’t there to boast or baffle, brag or schmooze; he was there to build a relationship. He was there to do business. Too many sales folks parachute in with a sales pitch, spewing catalogs and flyers like confetti at a spring wedding. Did you notice I said he left his brochures and catalogs at home? He was good.

“You know what may be good for your industry, Frank (besides 20,000 clones of this guy)? How about an education program where all salespeople were taught properly and earn the certification to prove it?”

Frank: “It’s strange you should bring up certification. The topic has been around for a long time and I know of at least a couple of groups of industrial distributors that are reviewing the topic. The Association of International Motion Engineers has publicly gone on record as supporting a program for ‘Certified Technical Sales Specialist.’

“While the idea of upping the professionalism of salespeople everywhere is akin to mom’s apple pie, the girl next door and everything wholesome, I wonder how we might get started?
“Answer this question for me. If two proposals arrive on your desk – one from a certified professional salesman and one from a schlocky guy in a plaid jacket – which one would you select? The cheapest one, right?”

Malcolm: “Didn’t you listen when I told you to get rid of the jacket?

“Frank, it depends on the industry whether ‘price only’ made the difference. ‘Mom and Pop shops’ will traditionally opt for the lowest price and plaid jacket. Corporate buyers are much more discretionary these days.

“Let’s put it into perspective.

1) The real live professional guy would be a lot more welcome and thus more successful in building sales relationships than your pal in the white shoes and plaid coat.

2) From experience we know your unkempt pal in the used car outfit probably wouldn’t be able to perform over the long haul. We’ve battled on this one a couple of times. I’m not kidding when I rant about documentation and certification, shelf life and on-time deliveries. Mr. Plaid doesn’t include this in his lower price.

“Price is one component, but service, problems with the supply chain, hammering out reductions in costs (not price) and streamlining administrative costs are part of the deal too.”

Frank: “You are making a believer of me. Experience dictates that most distributor sales meetings should really be called product meetings. I honestly believe sales teams have made great strides in their professionalism. My guess is that 90 percent of their improvement has come from technical knowledge rather than sales training. Many of today’s sales professionals can rattle off the names of 10 multisyllabic polymers but haven’t been trained to help you understand how the right one makes you money.”

Malcolm: “Amen, brother. Now you’re talking (multisyllabicly speaking of course).

“You can tell the difference between a talking plaid suit (you must have read at least one chapter from my book, It’s a Tough World Out There) and a professional, within 10 minutes of speaking with them, even when talking on the telephone!

“Some people wish only to sell you any product, any time. Others want to sell the correct product. Some believe they can buy you a $20 lunch and you’ll switch the whole company over to them exclusively. The good ones – the guy who focuses on the correct product – want to reach out, help solve your problems. Later they discuss cost savings and downtime recommendations over lunch. They make it personal and benefit immensely from that philosophy. But how do they learn that?”

Frank: “Some of what we are talking about isn’t really sales training. It’s customer-centric business training. What is important to your business and what information is critical to making good decisions. Am I on the right track?”

Malcolm: “I think so. Go back to my visit with our young sales friend. He knew his products but didn’t jump out of the box flaunting his mastery of the ‘double-dipthong-widget.’ Instead, he started the conversation with knowledge of my business, needs and potential for additional profits. It was all about me.

“He didn’t know why I called him to the meeting. He didn’t know where it might take him but he did his homework. He was seriously interested in presenting the facts as an exciting partnership opportunity where both could win.

“So, this time I don’t have a list of 10 things for a sales rep to do to increase your sales. I only have one.

“DO YOUR HOMEWORK!”

Frank: “Yet perhaps there are multiple lessons in this tale.

“For instance: 1) Sales professionals absolutely must focus on ways they can bring opportunities to their customers. Become your customer’s competitive edge and you don’t have to sell anything.

“Back when cars had fins and gas was a dime, selling was about features and benefits, fancy closing techniques and pitching your product with confidence. Today, sales is about how to promote business partnering.

“2) Buyers and purchasers aren’t blind or unversed when it comes to recognizing trained sales professionals. They know there are two kinds of people knocking on their doors: product pushers and problem solvers. Would it not be progressive and justified for the trained and educated problem-solving types to be recognized with a professional designation for all to see? Wouldn’t it be in the best interests of North American industry to set seller education standards and make those standards part of a certificate program? Why can’t all sales professionals just be professional?

“I’ll shut up now.”

Malcolm: “Go ahead and rant, Frank. Most purchasers have had their fill of product pushers. We can buy widgets from anyone. What we need and want is a winsome and wise widget wanderer who can work the proper widget into our particular organizational window.

“I wouldn’t be alone in stating that the purchasing industry in general would welcome with open arms (certified, please, not certifiable) sales men and women, trained and qualified in simply doing the appropriate homework on their customers’ needs, recognizing where their products and service values can work together for the betterment of both parties. How much more simple can it get?

“I know that if there aren’t already, there soon will be in sales land, somebody planning a course for the selling professional. Just do yourself a favor whoever you are – take a seat in the front row and ask a customer to teach it.

“Actually, Frank, you may want to try that yourself. Don’t ask me how but — plaid suit and all — you’ve actually learned enough to teach this industry what the customer needs. You’ve obviously done your homework.”

Frank: “Malcolm, your insight is amazing – for a purchasing guy.”

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2008 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2008.

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