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I’ve been on the giving and receiving end of sales training for my entire career. Let’s face it folks, sales training is a soft science. Every practitioner of sales training has their own spin on things. True, there are some absolutes when it comes to sales. However, there are sales training charlatans who claim that if you deviate from their sales scripts whatsoever you are nothing short of incompetent. Some of these charlatans might even work as sales trainers at your employer. To them I say balderdash!

When I am facilitating (can’t say “teaching” anymore) a sales training course I constantly am reminding the participants to use the concepts I am presenting but not my exact words. Why? If you use another person’s words when talking with a customer it can sound shallow, insincere or stilted. It’s important that you use good sales principles, but it’s equally important that they are played out through your unique personality. Sales concepts, yes. Exact duplication of words, no.

My wife and I bought a new mattress recently at a well known mattress retailer with stores throughout the US. I’m always interested in seeing how salespeople conduct themselves and what sales techniques they use. It was obvious from the first second that our salesperson had been heavily coached on the sales techniques that his employer wanted him to use. After spending an hour with this guy I don’t think my wife and I had a single clue about his personality because virtually every word that came out of his mouth was lifted right from the sales training scripts he had learned. It was awful. He came across as canned, insincere and indifferent.

Every year the US produces millions of college graduates who start a career in sales with energy, enthusiasm and a fresh outlook. Their employers spend billions of dollars on sales training to ensure that their conversations are scripted and loaded with the silly business jargon du jour. The corporations they work for want all these salespeople to look the same and say the same things. “It’s for control and standardization,” they’ll tell you.

But what do customers want? They want sales professionals that have a unique personality, that are real and can partner with them. Have you ever had a customer or prospect tell you that they didn’t want to do business with you because you weren’t cookie cutter enough? Being real with your customers is incredibly disarming and endearing. Corporate America has their reasons for trying to “standardize” you, but don’t let them steal one of your best selling assets, your personality.

Tags: personality

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