Effective Sales Roles To Achieve Selling Success Part 2

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To achieve selling success, a salesperson should masterfully play a repertoire of roles, to project a more professional persona.  The salesperson should skillfully utilize a mix of roles fit for the selling situation he or she might be in, and clinch sales and make customers satisfied and happy.

I will attempt to define the roles based on my experience as a salesperson:
  • Front-liners - Salespersons usually are the first to interact with customers.  A first impression can make or break a sale.  A salesperson's decorum and demeanor should project a professional selling persona.
  • Revenue-generator - In the traditional view, salespersons were expected to contribute to the company's topline. Back in the day, during sales huddles, the sales manager would cajole salespersons to hit the number by month's end.   Now, companies are training salespersons to be more conscious of the company's middle line, as well as bottom-line performance while they do business with customers especially the big ones.
  • Service provider - Service should be the primary consideration of every salesperson. After-sales service is equally important to secure customer loyalty. 
  • Troubleshooter -  The role of the salesperson in this case is to identify a customer's problem and solve it for them.  Salespersons should not hide the moment an irate customer calls up and complain. Salespersons should exhaust all means to solve the problem. Solving the problem might turn into an opportunity for future business. 
  • Negotiator/Intermediary - Negotiations are perceived as "upmanship" - beating the other party. A successful salesperson should never maintain this position but rather negotiate for a win-win situation for both sides.  The salesperson's aim in this role is for everybody to go home happy.
  • Communicator - The marketer's role is to communicate the brand's image, but today it is not only the domain of marketers, but salespersons have also been tasked to communicate the brand directly to its customer and improve brand equity.
  • Consultant - the expansive experience of a salesperson exposed to numerous situations providing solutions to the customer can classify the salesperson as an expert.  He can be viewed as a reliable consultant. This type of role should provide a customer with the ideal product or service for them. Extensive knowledge of the company's products or services is important.  The value of what suitable product for a specific customer should be strongly recommended. Especially if a customer is looking to cut costs sacrificing long-term benefits. The salesperson should maintain its stand rather than giving in to the customer's false assumptions, and in the future would call up as an irate customer. On the other hand, there are situations where the customer shares inside information, a salesperson should be ethical in keeping "under wraps" customer proprietary information or trade secrets to ensure a long-lasting and trusting relationship. 
  • Strategic collaborator - rather than an adversarial relationship, an effective salesperson should establish a more collaborative relationship, constantly working towards mutual business benefit. A salesperson's attitude is to work with customers for the long haul and keeping in mind the customer's as well as the company's long term goal.

On my next blog, I'll be sharing processes that will ensure selling success.

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