What is the new paradigm for professional selling?
To answer this question, one must first understand that a paradigm is simply a "way at looking at the world."
The new paradigm for selling entails all sales professionals understanding what this view should look like, no matter what their vertical market of focus. In other words, an "operative paradigm" for professional selling needs to exist. The reason the operative paradigm must exist stems from the fact that sales as a profession must have a common language, a common understanding of what is important, and a common approach to creating new "sales knowledge."
To create an operative paradigm (a paradigm that is standardized)all sales professionals must first understand "what" selling is, at it pertains to:
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of many different beliefs, values, emotions, wants, needs, and personalities (within the human element). For example, we will intersect with hundreds of buyers and individuals throughout our career.
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of organizations, norms, cultures, systems, and visions (within the organizational element). For example, our organization will intersect with many others throughout our career.
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of numerous professions. We exist at the intersection of Human Resource competencies, training and development approaches, purchasing, marketing, and consulting. Each profession with their own operational paradigms.
Yet, we don't yet have a fully embraced operational paradigm for the single most important profession in the world. The profession that drives the global economy -- sales.
Sales professionals exist at all these intersections as a "boundary spanner" between two companies and between two people and between several professions. This means we are in a very complicated profession. It also means that we are not often understood by many people --including our own management.
Because salespeople exist between two organizations, we have the ability to "become a part" of both of them at the same time. Like most in the sales profession, we take this pretty seriously. Especially when we have to exist within three different organizations within one day due to the nature of the work we do (three different sales calls in one day.)
All of this means that the intersection of organizations and individuals also exist within a constant state of change. It's hard to keep your footing within the range of human emotions, let alone the range of organziational change and dynamics.
Five years ago I began to ponder what this intersection looked like. I wondered how organizations fit together, how individual competency was created, how different functions related to the sales profession fit together, how all the body of knowledge could be framed up into an architecture. I began to wonder "what" it is so I can learn how to become more proficient. The more I looked, the more I realized that the explanation of "what" it this intersection looks like doesn't exist.
As a result, the framework of the profession barely exists in the work of a few. There is no operational paradigm for professional selling. No common language. No common understanding.
Sure, everyone's own opinion or fact regarding how to exist at the intersection exists, but no two people could agree on what this looks like. This is like two doctors being unable to discuss medical procedures because nobody took the time to create the "Grey's Anatomy Book" explaining what the human body is. Sure, they can spend hours going over "how" they do a procedure, but without an operational paradigm, the discussion wouldn't go far and it sure wouldn't see the test of time. There would always be a "new and better way.
To begin understanding this intersection, I created three ultimate assumptions about professional selling. Selling is ultimately:
1 - Grounded to a buyer(s)
2 - Focused on a transaction
3 - Bound by an ethical responsibility
These three assumptions led to my dissection of the sales profession step by step using the system's approach. Based on this approach, I dissected what a buyer goes through to buy. Based on this, I synchronized a universal selling and marketing model to that process they go through. Because it's focused on a transaction, I looked at economics and capitalism and the sales professional's role within. I looked at corporate strategy for competition and linked indvidual sales performance within this strategy. I looked at the nature of solution selling and creating win-win relationships and bound it to an ethical code within the context of a transaction. And so forth...
With these assumptions and the systems approach I needed a methodology for gathering more data quantitatively and qualitatively to build the operational paradigm. Through professional discussions, focus groups, interviews, and literature reviews I have solicited input into the operational paradigm for over 5 years now. This qualitative approach led me to create much of the operational paradigm. However, I now need to create a quantitative approach to validate the work.
Therefore, the operative paradigm being created serves as the starting point for this journey in how I am attempting to create new knowledge. It will also bridge the gap to my Ph.D dissertation topic which is the Roles, Competencies, and Outputs of Professional Business-to-Business Sales Professionals.
If you are interested in helping in this global project, feel free to contact me. It's something that must be done if the sales profession is to become a "true profession."
To answer this question, one must first understand that a paradigm is simply a "way at looking at the world."
The new paradigm for selling entails all sales professionals understanding what this view should look like, no matter what their vertical market of focus. In other words, an "operative paradigm" for professional selling needs to exist. The reason the operative paradigm must exist stems from the fact that sales as a profession must have a common language, a common understanding of what is important, and a common approach to creating new "sales knowledge."
To create an operative paradigm (a paradigm that is standardized)all sales professionals must first understand "what" selling is, at it pertains to:
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of many different beliefs, values, emotions, wants, needs, and personalities (within the human element). For example, we will intersect with hundreds of buyers and individuals throughout our career.
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of organizations, norms, cultures, systems, and visions (within the organizational element). For example, our organization will intersect with many others throughout our career.
-- finding ourselves at the intersection of numerous professions. We exist at the intersection of Human Resource competencies, training and development approaches, purchasing, marketing, and consulting. Each profession with their own operational paradigms.
Yet, we don't yet have a fully embraced operational paradigm for the single most important profession in the world. The profession that drives the global economy -- sales.
Sales professionals exist at all these intersections as a "boundary spanner" between two companies and between two people and between several professions. This means we are in a very complicated profession. It also means that we are not often understood by many people --including our own management.
Because salespeople exist between two organizations, we have the ability to "become a part" of both of them at the same time. Like most in the sales profession, we take this pretty seriously. Especially when we have to exist within three different organizations within one day due to the nature of the work we do (three different sales calls in one day.)
All of this means that the intersection of organizations and individuals also exist within a constant state of change. It's hard to keep your footing within the range of human emotions, let alone the range of organziational change and dynamics.
Five years ago I began to ponder what this intersection looked like. I wondered how organizations fit together, how individual competency was created, how different functions related to the sales profession fit together, how all the body of knowledge could be framed up into an architecture. I began to wonder "what" it is so I can learn how to become more proficient. The more I looked, the more I realized that the explanation of "what" it this intersection looks like doesn't exist.
As a result, the framework of the profession barely exists in the work of a few. There is no operational paradigm for professional selling. No common language. No common understanding.
Sure, everyone's own opinion or fact regarding how to exist at the intersection exists, but no two people could agree on what this looks like. This is like two doctors being unable to discuss medical procedures because nobody took the time to create the "Grey's Anatomy Book" explaining what the human body is. Sure, they can spend hours going over "how" they do a procedure, but without an operational paradigm, the discussion wouldn't go far and it sure wouldn't see the test of time. There would always be a "new and better way.
To begin understanding this intersection, I created three ultimate assumptions about professional selling. Selling is ultimately:
1 - Grounded to a buyer(s)
2 - Focused on a transaction
3 - Bound by an ethical responsibility
These three assumptions led to my dissection of the sales profession step by step using the system's approach. Based on this approach, I dissected what a buyer goes through to buy. Based on this, I synchronized a universal selling and marketing model to that process they go through. Because it's focused on a transaction, I looked at economics and capitalism and the sales professional's role within. I looked at corporate strategy for competition and linked indvidual sales performance within this strategy. I looked at the nature of solution selling and creating win-win relationships and bound it to an ethical code within the context of a transaction. And so forth...
With these assumptions and the systems approach I needed a methodology for gathering more data quantitatively and qualitatively to build the operational paradigm. Through professional discussions, focus groups, interviews, and literature reviews I have solicited input into the operational paradigm for over 5 years now. This qualitative approach led me to create much of the operational paradigm. However, I now need to create a quantitative approach to validate the work.
Therefore, the operative paradigm being created serves as the starting point for this journey in how I am attempting to create new knowledge. It will also bridge the gap to my Ph.D dissertation topic which is the Roles, Competencies, and Outputs of Professional Business-to-Business Sales Professionals.
If you are interested in helping in this global project, feel free to contact me. It's something that must be done if the sales profession is to become a "true profession."
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Brian is the Chairman and Founder of the the United Professional Sales Association (UPSA). UPSA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington DC that has addressed the concerns and challenges of individual sales professionals. Brian has authored the world’s first universal selling standards and open-source selling framework for free distribution. This 'Compendium of Professional Selling' containing the commonly accepted and universally functional knowledge that all sales professionals possess. The open-source selling standards have been downloaded in 16 countries by over 300 people. Over 30 people have made contributions.
Because UPSA is not owned by one person or any company, it is a member organization and guardian of the global standard of entry into the sales profession.
Because UPSA is not owned by one person or any company, it is a member organization and guardian of the global standard of entry into the sales profession.
