Years ago, when I was a VP of Sales for a technology company, I had a team of several sales professionals that reported to me. Most of them treated me in a typical (and positive) way salespeople treat their supervisors, but there was one person on our team that was especially respectful and nice to me. His behavior wasn’t extreme or weird, but it was noticeable that he wanted my approval. About three years after leaving that company, I ran into this person at a wedding. To state that his tone had changed would be an understatement. He barely acknowledged me and definitely didn’t care about my approval. When I mentioned the experience to someone else from that team a few weeks later, he explained: “Yeah, he always complained about you being too intense. We used to make fun of him of being scared of you because he kissed your ass all the time, but complained behind your back.”
The explanation was logical. I was intense, and I probably rubbed some people the wrong way. But why did he treat me so nicely when I was his boss but so disrespectfully when I wasn’t?
Because he needed me when I was his boss.
From the beginning of time until about fifteen years ago, b2b customers needed salespeople. They needed them for information, education, updates on “what’s happening out there”, and for pricing. For this reason, they spent more time with salespeople, built deeper friendships with them, and rarely ghosted them. Not today!
In today’s b2b environment, customers do not think they need salespeople. Customers can find information, education, industry updates, pricing, and a million other things online. Why would they invest time with a salesperson? Why would they build friendships with them?
The number one difference between selling today and selling fifteen years ago is that customers no longer need salespeople. Does that mean salespeople are irrelevant today? No, but selling in a traditional manner is can be seen as irrelevant by most customers. So, what can salespeople do?
First, salespeople must accept that customers don’t need them today. If you feel like your customers still need you, then you’ll continue to fall behind. They don’t need you.
Once you accept this brutal reality, then answer this question: “How can a relationship with me improve my customers’ professional lives?” You don’t need $10 million, but would your life be better with it? Maybe your customers don’t need you. Maybe they can do all of those things without you. But should they?
Can you provide better education in an easier way than other sources? Can you be the subject matter expert who makes answering questions so convenient that customers would rather call you than do an online search? Are you a salesperson who only talks or do you ask questions and spark dialogues? Do your customers ever say: “Every time we talk, I learn something new.”
If the answer to each of these questions is not an unequivocal “yes”, then your customers will likely view you as an unnecessary piece of the process. But if you are these things, then they will feel like they absolutely need you!
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