The 8 Most Dangerous Myths About Sales

The business world is full of misconceptions about selling. Eight particularly heinous ones have wriggled their way into what passes for "common sense" inside some companies. Unfortunately, once these myths are embedded in a company's culture, a decline in sales morale and sales revenue is almost inevitable.

In this post, I identify these eight dangerous myths, explain why they're myths, as well as how they create havoc. I've also provided some "corrected" versions that can act as a guide line for changing the way that the rest of the company thinks about sales.

Click for the first myth »
This post is very loosely based upon a conversation with sales guru Jeff Thull.

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• Why It's a Myth: Since the customer is the one paying the bills, the sales professional should always defer to the customer, right. Wrong. Both the customer and the sales professional know that the customer is fully capable of making mistakes and being unreasonable. Customers frequently have very strange and silly ideas about what to do and what to buy. Customers can be unclear and even wrong about their needs; it's therefore the job of the sales professional to figure out what's needed.
• Why It's Dangerous: Pretending that the customer is always right is patronizing, like catering to the whims of a spoiled child. What if the customer wants to purchase something that will waste money or damage their business? Don't you owe it to the customer to point out their error? Beyond that, if you always give in to the customer's opinion, you are guaranteed a slew of demands from the customer who now know that your firm lacks a spine.
• The Myth Corrected: Sales pros should help customers make the best decision.

• Why It's a Myth: An attractive, easy-to-buy product is admittedly easier to sell than one that that is unattractive and difficult to buy. However, many products are simply too complicated for people to purchase by themselves. In the consumer space, for example, real-estate purchases are so involved that there needs to be somebody around to shepherd the buyer through the process. And in B2B sales, there is often a significant amount of customization and solution-building. All that takes time and effort, and the loving care of a sales professional.
• Why It's Dangerous: This "build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door" notion encourages non-sales personnel tend to look upon the sales function as a subtle insult to the product (which is so good it really doesn't need to be sold.). Worst case, parts of the company (notably the engineering group) start seeing the sales team as a parasitical expenditure, making it almost impossible for the sales team to work with the engineering team when that's necessary to close business.
• The Myth Corrected: Great products are easier to sell, but they still need to be sold.
  

• Why It's a Myth: In popular culture, the image of a fast-talking, schmoozing salesperson -- and the hero's attempt to get away from him -- is a cheap way to get a laugh. This dated stereotype proceeded directly out of a snobbish dislike of the sales function popular in leftist Hollywood circles in the 1930. Unfortunately, its persistence in popular culture makes it into an ongoing influence in how many people view the sales function.
• Why It's Dangerous: Selling requires a broad skill set, especially when the product being sold involves critical elements of a business's future success. Selling, as an activity, contains elements of psychology, diplomacy, writing, public speaking, and the general application of business acumen to specific customer problems. When the rest of the organization clings to the notion that all you have to to do sell is "go out and buy people drinks," it makes it more difficult for the sales force to recruit resources required to close business.
• The Myth Corrected: Selling consists of discovering needs and satisfying them.

• Why It's a Myth: In many organizations, the sales pros are the highest paid non-executive employees. This often seems strange to people who don't work in sales because "selling is just schmoozing" (see Myth #3). However, selling entails a high risk of failure, which is why there's a higher reward. Sales reps are taking on additional risk, so that, when they succeed, they deserve a greater reward.
• Why It's Dangerous: The perception that sales is overpaid builds resentment, making it more difficult for the sales team to work with other organizations. It frequently encourages management to figure out ways to not pay commissions, even when they've been earned. This always destroys the ability of a sales team to sell, as the talented ones will quickly leave to work somewhere that they'll be respected. Remember: if sales doesn't do their job, there won't be a business. Then nobody will have a job!
• The Myth Corrected: Sales compensation reflects the economic value of the activity.

• Why It's a Myth: This myth proceeds from a combination of hubris and a lack of focus. It's easy to build pie-in-the-sky scenarios where your firm is offering something that every business or person wants and needs. However, no matter how attractive and "universal" your product seems to you, some prospects simply aren't going to see what you've got to offer as a priority, even if they have a budget to buy it.
• Why it's dangerous: Once you start thinking that everyone is a customer, you disperse valuable resources pursuing opportunities that aren't real. This plays itself out most commonly during the prospecting stage, where cold calling is a seen as a way to fill the pipeline, rather than as a process of eliminating leads that aren't likely to convert. Eventually you end up with a sales team that ends up "chasing garbage trucks rather than Brinks trucks." Very few deals pan out, with a consequent loss of both morale and profitability.
• The myth corrected: Only fully qualified prospects are potential customers.

• Why it's a myth: This myth proceeds from the "hard sell" methods of the distant past. The idea is to keep wearing away at a prospect until they say yes. You treat objections as if they are simply roadblocks to plow through in order to make the sale. However, when prospects raise objections, sometimes it really does mean that they don't want to buy (or don't intend to buy from YOU.)
• Why it's dangerous: It's really a matter of time management. Let's suppose it IS possible to wear a prospect down to the point where he finally agrees to buy. In that case, you can easily spend so much time overcoming obstacles that you ignore the possibility of an easier, less time-consuming sale elsewhere. In addition, a prospect who agrees to become a customer simply because you were persistent is likely to be an unhappy one, and create headaches later down the line.
• The myth corrected: Sometimes 'no' really does mean 'no'.

• Why it's a myth: While it's true that there are some skills that are common to all selling situations, selling today has become much more specialized than in the past. This is particularly true in B2B sales, where the sales rep is often expected to act as an outsourcing manager working for the customer. As a result many sales situations require a detailed understanding of the customer's business issues, and relationship with their own customers.
• Why it's dangerous: This concept of the "universal salesman" leads companies to hire sales reps based upon experience inside other markets but who lack the business acumen required to sell into the firm's target market. These misfires are expensive for the company who does the hiring, and demoralizing for the sales professional who gets roped into selling in an unfamiliar and incompatible environment.
• The myth corrected: Good salespeople know their strengths and weaknesses.

• Why it's a myth: The belief here is that you should take absolutely every opportunity to sell whatever you can, because the customer is buying now and may not want to buy later. However, every time you sell the customer something extra, you run the risk of selling them something that they don't really want or need. Your customers may have other spending priorities that are important to their long term success.
• Why it's dangerous: This myth drives all sorts of negative behaviors, like hard-selling, channel stuffing, and the addition of hidden charges. This leaves you in the position of sacrificing your long term relationship to the customer, and the customer's long-term financial health, in order to get a short-term gain in your own revenue stream. That's not just bad business, it's the behavior of a sociopath.
• The myth corrected: Never ask customers buy what they don't need.

• Sales pros should help customers make the best decision.
• Great products are easier to sell, but they still need to be sold.
• Selling consists of discovering needs and satisfying them.
• Sales compensation reflects the economic value of the activity.
• Only fully qualified prospects are potential customers.
• Sometimes 'no' really does mean 'no'.
• Good salespeople know their strengths and weaknesses
• Never ask customers buy what they don't need.

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