Sales Experience is NOT all the Same

I've been reading a discussion on one of the Inside Sales boards I follow, the gist of which is that most sales managers would rather hire for sales experience than industry experience. I'm not going to disagree but I am going to posit that the issue is actually more complicated.


There are many different types of sales and most of them boil down to transactional vs. consultative. I've had the opportunity to work with both types and I've seen people go from being very successful in one and then failing when they take on a job in the other. They are usually dumbfounded and can't understand why. "I was a crack closer" they'll say. "I always exceeded my quota", they'll claim. They're right - they did. But that's not the whole story.

Let's face it, closing a sale for a car or a home improvement can be done in one call. Closing on a high dollar sale in a large business can not. Now, it's not that the skill set is different per se, but that the skills are used differently. I'll need to hand hold more people. I need to build consensus - on teams, across departments and divisions in some cases. It's a slower process. I'll ask the great questions, I'll be prepared to take my opening. However, if I don't understand how the sales process works, I'm not going to get anywhere. It works in reverse, too. If I've worked in high dollar b to b sales and now I find myself selling lower dollar, high volume consumer goods, it's going to take a while to find my footing. Unfortunately, some people never will.


So, my bottom line isn't just going to be sales experience, it's how that sales experience has been acquired and how willing the sales professional will be to learn and make changes as necessary. Everyone can learn, everyone can grow. We must be willing to take those steps and most importantly we must understand that those steps must be taken. Sales hotshot in Company A doesn't automatically translate to sales hotshot in Company B. 

As managers and trainers it's our responsibility to make sure this transition goes smoothly. On boarding and on going training and coaching are essential to the success of every salesperson who joins your team. 

Need some help making this happen in your organization? For more information, contact me at info@krgcommunications.com  

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