"Our Take" - If Sales is So Important . . .

(Past Editions by: Date, Title, Topic)

 
About "Our Take" 
"Our Take" is a collection of daily vignettes covering a wide range of CRM topics. It's an attempt to add our own spin to the world of CRM. We will use the column to share our perspectives, opinions, epiphanies, web nuggets, or quite frankly anything that moves us. Get ready to expect the unexpected. And, don't be shy about sharing your thoughts.
 
 
4/25/06 - If Sales is So Important . . .
. . . Why isn't it taught? With so many sales professionals in the world and the importance placed upon sales teams to deliver the revenue, you would think higher education would be doing more to refine and formalize the education of sales reps. I find it interesting that college degrees are not only the norm but required for many of the other departments within the corporation but sorely lacking for sales.
 
For instance, what company would think of entrusting financial management to someone without formal training in finance? We have degrees in engineering, marketing, health care, restaurant management, agriculture, and countless others. But I have yet to find a person with a college degree in sales.
 
Yes, I have met many people who have had a course in selling but it is merely a few credits that may or may not count towards another degree. So if sales is so important, why hasn't higher education exploited the opportunity to produce professional sales people? Care to share your opinion?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
4/26/06 - If Customer Service is So Important . . .
. . . Why isn't it taught? Yesterday, I asked the related question, "if sales is so important, why isn't it taught?" To put a finer point on it, I find it interesting that people can go to college for all sorts of degrees but sales is not a degree offered by many universities. The same can be said about customer service.
 
How come companies continue to talk about how important it is to provide good customer service but they do not demand universities offer more structured, more complete, and more degreed customer service programs. The massive amounts of money spent on call centers, help desks, field service operations and other customer facing departments would suggest more emphasis on higher learning.
 
Why the big gap between what companies say about customer service and what companies demand in terms of college education? The call center budget can often represent more than 10% of a company's entire budget so having a trained professional in charge seems to make perfect sense. Tell me what you think. Look forward to a summary of your responses in future editions of this column.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
4/27/06 - Getting a Degree in Sales
On Tuesday I wrote about the peculiar condition we have with higher education asking the rhetorical question, "If sales is so important, why isn't it taught in more universities?" More specifically, why don't we have more degreed programs in selling?
 
Many of you wrote that there was a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, "Sales Know-How Is Only a Footnote For Most Programs." To read this article, you need to be a subscriber of the Journal. So for those of you that don't have a subscription, allow me to summarize a point or two.
 
According to the article, the sales function is slowly gaining more respect but most universities only have a single course to offer. It seems like business programs from Stanford, MIT, North Carolina, Wisconsin and others are recognizing the trend and working with corporate America to bridge the gap. It seems corporate America wants more sales in the curriculum but perhaps the universities are slow to respond. What a great opportunity for a university to differentiate!
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
4/28/06 - Getting a Degree in Sales
Yesterday, I reviewed a Wall Street Journal article that suggested the universities were slow in offering sales degrees. One reader responded to my thoughts on the scarcity of university degrees in sales by saying:
 
"I share Gary's position that teaching sales is important, but several universities, including Baylor University, offer degrees in selling. Our students are in high demand, receiving multiple job offers earlier and for significantly higher starting salaries than most other business majors. More universities will offer a selling major when more businesses demand educated sales professionals."
 
The academic world says they are ready to offer more sales degrees once corporate America shows demand. Corporate America is saying the demand is there but the degreed students aren't. Sounds a bit like the chicken and the egg. This writer thinks the demand is there for the right programs. But universities will have to invest more to create the supply. Can they do it?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/1/06 - Born to Sell
I've received quite a bit of feedback from last week's columns regarding higher education and degrees in sales and customer service. This topic is obviously a hot one for many of you so I wanted to share some of the feedback with all our readers.
 
One reader took me to task saying, "I'm not sure when you last checked, but universities are offering negotiation classes, marketing and advertising classes, etc. - all subjects that provide even more focus on sales. In call centers and service areas we are looking for hospitable people - characteristics that are not learned, but something one either naturally does - or they don't get it. I'm very disappointed in this trite article."
 
It was obviously not my intention to be trite. I apologize if I came across that way. My limited research into what universities offered found that most reputable places of higher learning offer a class or two in selling, negotiations, marketing, advertising, etc. respectively. However, these classes are typically part of a curriculum for a degree that was not centrally focused on the art of selling. In most cases, the classes are part of a degree in business or management. Tomorrow I'll respond to the nurture/nature question of selling posed by many of you – are sales people born or trained?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/2/06 - Sales - Nurture versus Nature
Are sales people born or can sales be learned? That's not the specific question asked over the last few days in this column but readers have very strong feelings about the role of education in creating sales people.
 
One person offered, "Marketeers are made but salesmen are born" and another suggested that "Sales is a skill, not a profession unto itself." Another said, "Sales training is one of the last apprentice systems left" suggesting that selling is more art than science.
 
Yet another summarized that "Teaching can only go so far. A company has a responsibility to take the fundamentals (taught or otherwise) to the next level." Consider this perspective, "Do you need a business degree to do well in business? Of course not, but that doesn't mean we should not have business courses?" Simply stated, degreed programs in sales (or service) won't singularly create better people but they can take existing attributes to the next level.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
5/3/06 - Some Things Just Need to be Taught
As I continue the nurture versus nature discussion as it relates to sales and service, I want to share some observations made by many of our readers. While certain people might have natural tendencies to be excellent sales people or caring and effective service representatives, it seems some skills shouldn't be left to chance.
 
For instance, one reader wrote, "Sales people need to know basic things as how to shake someone's hand and look them in the eye to show sincerity." Another added, "In a society trained by MTV manners and attitudes, one must be carefully trained. Far from trite, relationship management skills, whether from the perspective of persuasion or serving, are vital and can best be inculcated in a formal training and learning atmosphere."
 
To summarize the discussion covered in this column over the last few days, I think it is safe to say that training alone doesn't create good sales and service people. Certain people are "born" with the aptitude towards sales and service but those raw talents are refined through training and on-the-job experience.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)