I just read the book, "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future" by Daniel Pink and I strongly recommend reading it (see my Amazon widget). It begs the question for me, however, aren't salespeople or perhaps more accurately great salespeople more right-brained than most people? Full disclosure IBM actually assessed this for their management trainees as part of their Management Training program and I came out very right-brained. I had always thought of this as a handicap in the business world until now. Yeah.
The book's premise is that automation, outsourcing and our own success have led to the need for less and less left-brain types of activities (programming and etc) and more and more right-brain activities (relationships, art, design and etc.).
So, good right-brained sales people who create solutions, create value, build relationships, see connections where others don't are already successful and well thought of. The problem is that there are a lot more of the other type of salesperson, someone who is more left-brained, more transaction driven, more focused on money than meaning to paraphrase Guy Kawasaki. So, if you are creating value and driving benefits for your customers just keep it up and according to Daniel Pink your time to shine even more is just around the corner.
The book's premise is that automation, outsourcing and our own success have led to the need for less and less left-brain types of activities (programming and etc) and more and more right-brain activities (relationships, art, design and etc.).
So lets look at what makes a great salesperson in the context of the book?
1) Relationships - great salespeople have to be able to build relationships with people because people ultimately buy from people not companies, even at IBM. They trust people not companies and they communicate better with people not companies.
2) Empathy - great salespeople must put themselves in other people's shoes to understand their needs, their pain and their dreams and then be able to create a path that gets their customers there.
3) Symphony - as Dan Pink states, symphony is the ability to bring things together, to be able to see the big picture and marry different things into one. This sounds like solution selling 101 and is a big part of what we salespeople do every day.
4) Story - great salespeople need to be able to tell stories and communicate in ways that people can relate to personally and understand as opposed to through endless statistics, numbers and Powerpoint slides.
5) Design - Great salespeople need to be able to design a pursuit of an opportunity, bringing all the players together in a project that makes things happen. They also need to be able to design how they want to communicate their message in various different media such as public speaking, presenting, webinars, video, Powerpoint and etc.
Over all great salespeople need to be able to understand their customers and their customers' businesses, be able to see the forest for the trees, solve problems creatively, communicate through stories and well-designed presentations that don't rely on endless text in Powerpoint. They need to use the right-side of the brain.
So, good right-brained sales people who create solutions, create value, build relationships, see connections where others don't are already successful and well thought of. The problem is that there are a lot more of the other type of salesperson, someone who is more left-brained, more transaction driven, more focused on money than meaning to paraphrase Guy Kawasaki. So, if you are creating value and driving benefits for your customers just keep it up and according to Daniel Pink your time to shine even more is just around the corner.
