I bet you instinctively answered this question defensively with a powerful “no way”. When we hear this term, we just think of a salesperson negatively, but we don’t thing about the literal meaning or the intent behind the label. It’s such a common term that it’s become white noise. We just think “bad salesperson”, and since your numbers have probably been good lately, you think “no way, I’m not an order taker”.
Order taker fundamentally means someone who takes orders from customers. In our context, it’s not someone who searches for, finds, and wins business. It’s a salesperson who responds to requests for quotes, maybe performs some site walks, delivers quotes, and processes the orders that come in.
So, are you an order taker? Before answering that question, reflect on your actions over the last few weeks. What have you done on a day-to-day basis? Again, are you an order taker?
When we get engaged with clients and begin to work with their salespeople, we find most of them are order takers. They may have different titles, but they’re not proactively generating sales. They’re not identifying and pursuing potential new clients. They’re not finding and solving problems before their customers experience the problems. They’re not creating a buzz in the marketplace. They’re not having the hard conversations with their current clients. They’re not delivering unsolicited ideas or proposals to anyone. They’re not selling. They are taking orders, though.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re working their tails off. But they’re not selling. They’re responding to and supporting their customers and potential customers that find them.
People in relationships get lazy and usually fall into a mode of mediocrity, which becomes the norm. Marriages, friendships, the barista at the coffee shop that you see every morning, and yes … your job. We become lazy with our jobs and fall into a routine. Again, working very hard and long hours, but a routine of responding to requests - not leading thought and influencing decisions. Building quotes and taking orders.
What can you do? Schedule a date night with your spouse, send random and kind texts to friends, or bring a gift card to that barista. Change your behavior. Break up the routine. Make it fun again.
There’s not enough room in a blog post to answer specifically what a salesperson can do, so I’ll leave it at that: change your behavior, break up the routine, make it fun. You’re smart enough to figure out the details. If you want help, click the button below and we’ll chat.
