I’ve been doing some ghost writing lately for a friend and tech CEO. One article I wrote was all centered on the role of curiosity in the success of a salesperson. I want to expand on that.
There’s been a few instances over the past few years where I’ve been at a conference or just in a casual chat about sales enablement with industry friends and the topic of “curiosity” has reared it’s head. Our industry is quite well known for it’s trends and buzzwords but I think there’s something different with this one. I think we are reaching a culmination, and a realization.
We are reaching a culmination in the trial and error of sales enablement best practices. I think we can agree the world is well supplied with sales technology and sales training content and it’s the product of decades of research and development. Is it making sales people better? Do we need more? Should we still pay for it in the same way? I went to Miller Heiman’s annual summit a few years back and their people from CSO Insights shared that their research had shown fewer reps were hitting quota year over year. Oddly that research was carried out on MH’s own client base… a bit worrying? So as the annual rep enablement spend increases we’re seeing worsening results. Now, despite playing devils advocate a lot in this space, I don’t think it’s the tech or content that is necessarily falling short. There’s some really sound concepts and some really powerful platforms out there. This leads me to the realization.
The sum of quotas is a lot larger than the sum of competitive opportunities available. Perhaps that’s a really obviously statement to some, and news to others but think about it. It’s surely impossible for all reps to hit quota every quarter. Only a certain percentage of reps can ever be successful. I think
the tools and content we have are enough but there’s an innate quality or attitude a sales person needs in order to take advantage of all the recourses available and make up part of that successful percentage. I think that that quality is “curiosity”.
We’ve established that trying to force a sales process or methodology on reps has a limited positive result, which means we are having to switch tack a little. We’re already making content more widely available; it’s ubiquitous. The curious rep will seek it out though and select what works for them. They’ll want to learn everything they can about how to effectively position their product or services. The best resources they have are the top performing experienced reps and this tacit knowledge can indeed be transferred, if sought out. As sales leaders we shouldn’t hinder the, what I call, “self-enablement” but rather encourage it and develop a “growth-mindset” culture.
It’s not just the sales methodology knowledge that can be shared from peer-to-peer though. Perhaps more important is the product and industry knowledge. Curiosity would lead a sales professional to learn their industry inside out. Their function is to be a trusted advisor; to make recommendations and advise. Their advice, if taken and not sound, could have disastrous knock on effects.
Ideally you’d be hiring sales people who are curious. The problem is identifying them. I don’t purport to know about how you measure someones curiosity in a quantifiable way but there do appear to be some online resources. Britannica has one HERE for example.
Since the whole world has slowed down in 2020, perhaps now is a good time for us to let our curiosity get the better of us and explore new ideas and disciplines. I’m sure there is an awful lot of creation going on at the moment; innovators having their aha moments, writers beating “the block”, and musicians composing 2021 chart toppers.
Albus Dumbledore once told Harry Potter “Curiosity is not a sin Harry, but we should exercise caution”. I’m afraid I’m goin
g to have to disagree with ole’ Dumbledore here and say - get stuck in! Don’t worry, unlike the cat, it wont kill ya!
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