June 2005 Archives

I've been reading some articles lately that offer tips on how buyers buy. But that's not the issue at all. Since sales has been about getting something sold, and is therefore a push technology, the accepted wisdom seems to be that if sellers understand how buyers buy, they'll better know how to close.

Just back from holiday. Had a chance to experience a group of people at the Grof Transpersonal Training (GTT) center who carry forward the work of Stan Grof, the psychiatrist who created the holotropic breathing system. It's a mix of breathing and music, meditation and healing, that brings participants through a journey towards wholeness.

I strongly recommend this for people who actively seek internal change. It's a strong, humbling approach to serving yourself and others, while healing those places in us that sometimes effect others inadertently. This group is the very essence of serving: they've dedicated their lives to helping people become all they can be. And the journey we each take toward wholeness is often less than pretty - yet these dear folks hang in with great love and respect.

Since my own work is a model that supports healing interactions between sellers and buyers, I've found the Grof work to be a huge help in not only managing my own emotional center, but in helping my clients manage theirs. Check it out at http://www.holotropic.com/ The world is a better place with these folks in it.

- Sharon Drew

For centuries, we've misused the function of sales. We've used sellers to push product, even though we've recognized that there is a 93% failure rate built into the job (so we've just hired a lot of sellers to do the job far fewer could do).

The way I see it, sales folks are the bridge between the outside (customer, market) and the inside (company). Imagine if sellers are equiped with the tools/skills to be able to be the brand ambassadors for the company, while bring the raw, real data of what customers truly desire back to the R&D function. Maybe then we'd develop products that people wanted/needed, rather than designing products that our R&D folks wanted. Or be the teachers for other functions in a company so they all can get behind true customer care.

We've relegated 'sales' to the function of selling product. Imagine if sellers were the bridge for a company, and merely had to support buyers in designing their own solutions, with their company just responding.