Is Selling Dead?

Is Selling Dead? (via Seth Godin). Selling is Dead.  I've been meaning to write some entries on selling, which after all is what I do, train salespeople.
So is Selling Dead?
I've been out on the road with some salespeople over the last few weeks, observing them selling to SME businesses, and I can tell you that selling isn't dead.
What I'd like to see die, is the rhetoric of selling.  Most attempts by writers and trainers (including myself) use the same old tired language as if selling is war.  Strategy. Planning.  Need.  Win.  Problem.  Pain. Opening.  Closing.  Territory.  And another level to make it sound nice.  Consultative.  Listening. Matching. Win-Win!!

You know something?  Markets are Conversations! That's all.  People on the whole want to talk to People.  The trouble is, we've taken a scientific approach to selling, by trying to analyse what a "good" salesperson does and then try and apply it in books and workshops, to what other people "should" be doing.  But that's like analysing why a joke or comedian is funny and then telling someone to get up on stage.  Something of the spirit is lost.

I don't know where selling is going, but there really is nothing new in selling, just different ways to dress it up.  The most refreshing thing I've read on selling over the last few years is The Cluetrain Manifesto, which was more aimed at the Marketing People, but it could also apply to selling and salespeople.

So chill people, and just have a conversation.
You know what I've observed over the last few weeks?
Genuine curiosity works the best (even if it kills the cat).

And I've ordered the Selling is Dead book from Amazon, so that I can be curious and amazed (before I criticise it).

Comments

[Michael Almond]

Thanks for a great post. I think the ClueTrain Manifesto is the most interesting document I've read regarding the changes in the market. (though it is more than a few years old)

What is so interesting is that so many of the 95 theses in the manifesto are almost word for word exact tenets of Social Marketing. Interesting, Social Marketing is not mentioned at all, just the ideas.

What I am suggesting is that selling is alive and kicking, it's WHAT we are selling that is changing. I read more and more these days, ideas and theories similar to the Cluetrain Manifesto. It suggests to me that we are moving toward the selling of ideas over consumer products.

If so, this is ironic. Social Marketing borrowed from commercial marketing and now the opposite may to happening. Time will tell.

[Jason Sinkovitz]

Tony, thanks for mentioning Selling Is Dead on your blog. I'm one of the co-authors of the book, and I enjoyed reading your take on the question, "Is selling dead?" I'm also appreciative that you purchased a copy of the book. It sounds as though you will be writing a "review" of the book on your blog once you've read Selling Is Dead, so I'll look forward to it.

My co-author and I also wanted to make an offer to your readers. We would be happy to email (for free) the introduction from the book as well as part of Chapter 1. These pages provide our answer to the question, "Is selling dead?"

Anyone who wants this content from Selling Is Dead can email me at info@sogistics.com to get it. Put the words "Tony Goodson" in the subject box and also list your name, title, and company name. I'll do my best to reply within 24 hrs.

Thanks Tony!