Building a successful sales culture is hard work. It’s a top concern for sales leaders, startups, and businesses in general. It can be overwhelming at times.
I get it.
I’ve been there.
While there are lots of factors that go into building a sales culture that will drive the results you’re after (compensation, leadership, process, structure…etc), one that is often overlooked is how sales is defined. That is, what’s your definition of sales?
Put another way, how you think about sales will determine your sales culture.
I’ve written about the definition of sales before, and I’ve asked thousands of salespeople to define what sales is. I get a wide variety of responses.
Here are a few:
- Sales is a transaction
- It’s providing a solution
- Sales is solving a problem
- It’s an exchange of value
- Sales is transferring excitement
- It’s about building trust and relationships
- Sales uncovers pain and fixes it
These definitions are not wrong. They’re just incomplete. The dictionary definition of sales does not help either. It defines sales as an exchange of a commodity for money.
There’s obviously more to selling than that!
The following one-sentence definition paints a more complete picture of what professional sales really is. This definition is a little different. Notice how it helps shape and define sales culture.
Sales is the process of helping someone make a positive change and allowing them to own it.
I unpack this definition in detail in my upcoming book, but there are at least six components at play:
- Sales is a process: What’s your process? What’s the journey you take your clients on? How will they feel on this journey?
- Sales is about helping people: Salespeople are often in it for themselves. Helping them learn to serve others – to make their customers the hero – is critical.
- Sales is about making positive change: Customers hate manipulation and high-pressure tactics. No one wants to be forced into a solution that isn’t resonating with them.
- Sales is about solving pain/problems: Are your sales people able to respectfully and professionally get below the surface to address root issues? Are they creating psychological safety or unintentionally pushing customers away with bad habits and archaic sales tactics?
- Sales is about helping people take ownership: This is the hardest one of all. Do your salespeople know how to help a customer own the decision for themselves?
- Sales is a relationship: Sales is a relationship in which you help your customer slay their dragons and get to a better place. It’s not about you.
This is a much more complete picture of professional selling compared to the traditional value exchange definitions.
You don’t have to use the definition above. That’s how I think about sales. The really important question for your sales culture is, How do you think about sales?
How you define sales will have a massive impact on your sales culture. If it’s not clear you’ll be fighting competing values. If it’s clear and you put the systems in place to support and execute on it, your sales culture will thrive.
What are your thoughts?