銷售人員正在被時代淘汰嗎？
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親愛的安妮：我們公司的一位高管正在建議裁掉銷售人員。他表示，客戶如今更愿意繞開銷售人員，在網上研究他們想買的東西，并直接從網絡供應商那里下單。為了證明他的觀點，他給每個人都發了一封郵件，其中引用了弗雷斯特研究公司的研究報告。該報告認為，到2020年，這一趨勢將導致100萬個銷售崗位消失。 我認為這種趨勢不會影響到我，因為我的團隊銷售的是一種復雜的系統，必須為每個客戶量身定制，客戶會希望我親身演示給他們看。是我自欺欺人嗎？您怎么看？——J.M. 親愛的J.M.：擔心被科技淘汰的絕不止你一個。外科醫生、飛行員甚至記者都可能被智能機器人取代，這是遲早的事兒。麥肯錫全球研究所一項新研究指出，如今有45%的工作都可以通過現有的技術實現自動化。 這項研究表示，在美國，“這些工作代表著每年2萬億美元的工資。”甚至連首席執行官也不能幸免，因為麥肯錫的研究人員發現高管“有大量工作是可以被自動化的”。 此外，你們公司那位高管所言不虛。銷售數據分析公司Gryphon Networks的高級副總裁埃里克?埃斯法哈年表示：“銷售業將會面臨大洗牌。”從惠普和EMC開始，埃斯法哈年已經在商業智能軟件領域耕耘了20年之久。他說：“最底層10%或20%的B2B推銷員，尤其是那些推銷產品簡單、銷售周期短的員工，將會被B2B電子商務取代。” 即使是你這種涉及更復雜產品、銷售周期更長的工作，那些“起初并沒有真正從事銷售工作的員工”也會大批離去。埃斯法哈年表示，這種情形很像2000年代初期至中期的房地產業，那時“許多人進入房地產業，因為這個行業蓬勃發展，掙錢很容易。”在2008年行業不景氣以后，大部分人都主動逃離或是被迫離開。 埃斯法哈年建議，把現在看作你的2008年，“讓你自己變得不可替代”。他給推銷員提出了三條建議。 學會打電話。如今，大數據分析技術可以找出那些效率最高的銷售人員是怎么做的。事實證明，銷售人員的老套法則“微笑加上打電話”是有事實支撐的。Gryphon Networks的數據顯示，要吸引一名新客戶，平均需要打8個電話，面見一次。相反，不那么優秀的銷售人員通常打了兩次電話后就選擇放棄。 為什么呢？“用電子郵件和社交媒體聯系別人會更加舒服，因為不用那么害怕遭到他人直接拒絕。但真正有利可圖的交易從來都不是從電子郵件開始的，你必須拿起電話。” 詳細記錄好你所打過的電話，包括電話推銷和與現有客戶的談話。埃斯法哈年表示：“這些記錄可以顯示你每天堅持打20、30還是甚至40個電話，并指出有多少電話最終導致了會面。如果你帶上這些記錄參加求職面試，你就領先了至少70%的候選人。” 仔細觀察公司或行業頂尖銷售人員。也許你也是其中一員。但埃斯法哈年表示，新入行者尤其要向銷售類似產品或系統的最優秀的推銷員學習一些特殊技巧，這一點至關重要。他建議：“研究他們的一些行為細節，試著也這么做。起初你感覺像是在模仿他們，但經過練習，他們最棒的方法就會變成你的。” 采納那些對最佳從業者有效的策略，對學習任何技能（包括管理）來說都是一種好方法，在如今的銷售領域尤為如此。在即將到來的洗牌中，可能只有最具效率的推銷員才能留下，沒人有空去做重復工作。 努力做好網站（或機器人）不能做的事情。毫無疑問，員工在未來最需要的技巧，都是與他人交往相關的。這包括團隊建設、創意生成，以及和同伴一起設定目標，想出問題的創新解決方案。如果你在銷售定制化系統，你的客戶需要你幫助他們解決問題，那就說明你在這方面已經付出了很大努力。 在此基礎上還要做得更多。埃斯法哈年建議：“學習如何積極聆聽，學習如何與人交往，如何閱讀他們沒有說出的事情。你怎樣平息一名憤怒的客戶？你如何在談話中追加銷售、交叉銷售，或是介紹一款新產品或服務？” “你在情感共鳴、團隊合作和溝通技巧上的本領越強，你就會‘永不過時’。”（財富中文網） 祝你好運。 譯者：嚴匡正 審校：任文科 |
Dear Annie: A senior manager here is pushing to cut our staff because he says customers now would rather bypass a human salesperson, research what they want to buy online, and get it directly from an online supplier. To prove his point, he emailed everyone a Forrester research study from last spring that says this trend will cause at least 1 million sales jobs to disappear by 2020. I don’t think this applies to me because the complex systems my team sells have to be customized for each client, and they expect us to show up in person to do that. But am I burying my head in the sand? What do you think? — Just Marty Dear J.M.: You’re not the only one worrying about being shoved aside by technology. Surgeons, airline pilots, even (gulp) journalists are fair game to be replaced by smart robots, and sooner rather than later. A new study from the McKinsey Global Institute says that about 45% of the jobs people do now could be automated with technology that already exists. In the U.S., “these activities represent about $2 trillion in annual wages,” the study says. Not even CEOs are entirely immune, since McKinsey’s researchers found that chief executives “have a significant amount of activity that could be automated.” Moreover, it seems your senior manager has a point. “There is going to be a big shakeout in sales,” says Eric Esfahanian. A senior vice president at sales-data analytics firm Gryphon Networks, Esfahanian has worked with business intelligence software for two decades, starting with stints at HP and EMC. “The bottom 10% or 20% of business-to-business salespeople, especially those who are selling a simple product with a short sales cycles, are going to lose out to B2B e-commerce.” Even jobs like yours, involving more complex products with longer sales cycles, will see a sizable exodus of “people who really didn’t belong in sales in the first place.” Esfahanian likens this to the real estate business in the early-to-mid 2000s, when “lots of people went into real estate because it was booming and there was a lot of easy money around.” Most of them fled, or were forced out, in late 2008 when the going got rocky. Think of this moment as your 2008, Esfahanian suggests, and “make yourself indispensable.” He sees three ways salespeople can do that: Learn to love the phone. Now that Big Data analytic techniques have made it possible to measure what the most productive salespeople do, it turns out that the old stereotype of a salesperson “smiling and dialing” has some basis in fact. Gryphon Networks’ data show that bringing in a new client takes an average of eight phone calls to reach the right person and set up a meeting. By contrast, less stellar salespeople give up after two phone calls. Why? “Email and social media are more comfortable ways to contact people, because there isn’t as much fear of immediate rejection,” he says. “But a big lucrative deal will never start with an email. You have to pick up the phone.” Keep a detailed log of your phone calls, including cold calls and conversations with current clients. “It should show a consistent pattern of 20, 30, or even 40 calls a day, and note how many resulted in an in-person meeting,” Esfahanian says. “If you take that log to a job interview, it will put you ahead of at least 70% of candidates.” Watch the top salespeople in your company or industry.Maybe you are already one of them. But, particularly for people new to the field, Esfahanian says it’s crucial to learn the specific techniques that work for the best salespeople who are selling a similar product or system. “Study the details of what they do and try it,” he suggests. “It might feel like you’re just imitating them at first, but with practice, their best methods will become yours.” Adopting what works for the best practitioners has always been a good way to learn any craft (including management), but it makes even more sense in sales right now. The coming shakeout will probably leave only the most productive salespeople standing, and no one has time to reinvent the wheel. Get even better at the things a website (or a robot) can’t do. There’s little doubt that the skills employers will need most in the years ahead are all about interacting with other people. These include team-building, idea generation, and collaborating with fellow humans to set goals and come up with creative solutions to problems. If you’re selling customized systems to clients who need your advice on how to tackle their challenges, you’re already doing a lot of this. Do more of it. “Take a course in active listening,” Esfahanian advises. “Study how to engage people, and how to read the things they don’t say. How do you defuse an angry client? How do you up-sell, or cross-sell, and introduce an additional product or service into the conversation? “The more expertise you can develop in empathy, teamwork, and communication, the more ‘future-proof’ you’ll be.” Good luck. |
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