Jo asks Matt Webb to reveal the modern secrets to improving your organisation’s sales technique
Training Journal: A lot of people have a specific, negative, impression of someone who is trying to sell them something. You promote “sustainable selling”, what is that and why is it important?
Matt: Normally, when you hear the word sustainable, you assume it’s focused on environmental impact. In the world of sales, however, when we talk about sustainable selling, we are referring to ethical selling principles, ideas, values, and practices. Sustainable selling is built around trust and transparency to discourage the exploitation of people and resources, excessive consumption, and greed.
At Mentor Group, we have sustainable selling engrained into our ethos. We work closely with clients to ensure that the sales training we deliver in skillset, mindset and toolset is transferred into daily practices. This will make a positive difference to both the individual sales professional and to the clients they are working with.
By putting the customer first to understand their needs, desires and values, we can redefine what people think about the profession of selling. We can change dated negative stereotypes to transform the profession and help the customer get exactly what they want, when they want it.
TJ: Your book is about “infinite selling”, so what is it and how is it different from more traditional approaches?
Matt: It’s crucial to remember that the art of selling is not captured in a moment in time. Sales is a continuous focus on delivering fantastic customer experiences across every function of a business. Buyers want to spend less time in front of a seller and are far more self-sufficient than before. If selling has changed, then the role of the seller must change too.
The concept of infinite selling is a new, end-to-end methodology, process and ethos that is designed to transcend traditional ways of selling, to drive significant revenue transformation for businesses. Unlike traditional methodologies that are too rigid and too focused on the seller’s needs, infinite selling holistically approaches both the buyer’s and seller’s needs, to align the buyer journey and drive value at every stage for both parties.
Our methodology is a new approach; one that puts the customer experience at the centre of everything an organisation does. Infinite selling aligns business practices to deliver excellent customer experiences.
TJ: What sales skills can we learn in the people profession, and how should we use them in our mission to support adult learning at work?
Matt: The art of selling is about building great business relationships – ones that are based on trust. Typical sales skills, such as the ability to forge strong relationships, communicate effectively, high emotional intelligence, strong negotiation abilities, digital literacy and mental fitness, are all vital skills that are transferable to the benefit of other parts of the business. These are the type of skills that we should be developing in functions across the business and not just in sales.
TJ: You have experience of transformation and enablement strategies; what do you see as the main people challenges in this area, and how do you tackle them?
Matt: Change, whatever it may be, can be a difficult process for any business to manage successfully. While technological integrations have allowed for core processes to be optimised and streamlined, the transformation and enablement of people is never a once-and-done process. If you’re going to change habits, skills and mindsets of your employees, you must apply innovative ideas and initiatives into daily practices and build a coaching culture when these changes are being resisted.
One of the main challenges we experience is the lack of a clear ‘why?’ – why are you asking people to change, how will it benefit them? Is the change purposeful? Once this is clear and well communicated, you are more likely to achieve change or transformation in individuals through enablement activities. Great coaching is absolutely essential as it can help support people to navigate the complexities of change.
TJ: What do you see as the future of the high-pressure work environments that can negatively affect people’s mental health?
Matt: High-pressure work environments are a fact of life and, for many sectors, they will always exist. However, we have an opportunity to make lasting positive change to people’s mental health – a change that can help them become mentally resilient to navigate their high-pressure work environment.
In sales, too many leaders are focused on the wrong things. A large amount of the pressure originates from demanding sales targets and in an increasingly difficult market; this is putting additional pressure on sellers. We can and must flip the script. If a greater focus is placed on the customer experience or leveraging new technology such as AI to drive productivity, we can improve the mental health environment for sales teams.
Matt Webb is CEO of Mentor Group
