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We Never Learned to Sell in School

At a recent meeting attended by more than 50 salespeople and sales managers, the speaker asked this question: “If your children were choosing a profession, would you recommend that they choose sales?” Not one hand was raised. There’s the problem. Selling is not viewed as a profession—it’s not something we suggest our children do. It’s definitely not what we learned in school.

Communication

Recently I spoke to a group of students in an Executive MBA program. One of the school’s deans told me that he thought the curriculum was lacking. The emphasis was on theory and its application, “the what” (the facts) and not on “the how”: the personal interactions that can make or break a career. One student even told me that the real value of an MBA is the connections you make. But whether that’s true or not, what we don’t learn in school, even in business school, is how to communicate with others, how to resolve differences, how to navigate the politics of an organization, how to “sell” our ideas within our own company. School does not really prepare us for the workforce. We learn how to work—and how things work— when we actually start working.

Similarly, high school does not prepare us for college. As I was about to graduate from high school, one of my teachers said: “Let me tell you the difference between high school and college. In high school the restrooms say ‘Boys and Girls’ and in college, they say ‘Men and Women.’” What a huge jump that is for all of us. And it’s another huge jump from college to the workforce and from graduate school back into the workforce. We emerge from business school book smart, but not always street smart. It then becomes our responsibility to figure things out. This lack of “the how” comes at both a huge personal cost and a cost to the companies which hire us.

On the Job Training

For most new employees, it takes at least a year to get pretty good at their jobs and up to two years to really nail it. Employees pay a huge penalty and corporations pay a huge cost. Why? Your hiring process probably looked like this: you were given a desk, a phone, some training on your products, computer training on your systems, and of course, a basic human resources indoctrination. Then you were left to figure things out. Coming to work for a new company is overwhelming—even if you stay in the same industry. You do not know the processes, who to talk to if you have questions, how to get things done, or the history of your role within the company.

For example, I worked for a consulting firm for eight years and then switched to a similar firm. I thought it would be a piece of cake. It was anything but that. I went from working in a headquarters office to a field office, and I had to learn new products and the solutions that my company and I could provide. I had no history of what the company had done before. Was there help? Yes, some. But most of the people were at headquarters—on the other side of the country—and I hadn’t met them yet. When everyone is stretched, people aren’t going to give time to the new guy. I went through six agonizing months of doing my best to figure things out. For a high achiever, this was a very difficult time. I even questioned whether or not I had made the right decision.

Life Skills

Think about the huge cost in productivity while new employees are figuring things out. From a company perspective, there is a tremendous price to pay to mentor people until they can communicate, work as a team, and use those critical interpersonal skills that are essential for success. And as new employees without basic skills struggle to figure out how the company works and how to get things done, productivity declines. They don’t have the skills to operate in a 21st century business. And that’s why organizations do so much training. Most training emphasizes the “basics”— communication, working as a team, and managing people—basics that I believe should be taught in school. These interpersonal skills should be just as much a part of our education as are academics. And please don’t call these essential skills “soft skills.” Those two words indicate that they’re not very important. However, they are invaluable professional skills, and even more than that—they are life skills.

One of my clients works with technical professionals to teach them how to be more consultative in their jobs. In fact, as schools graduate more and more technical professionals—scientists, engineers, chemists, technology experts, etc.—the problems will loom even larger. This group of highly and specifically skilled professionals wants to focus on their work. They may not know how to work in a team, to generate creative ideas, or to promote their solutions strategically.

Everyone Sells

Take accountants and attorneys. They never learned to sell in school—and they don’t want to. There is a real challenge in these professional firms today. Given a choice, they will always want to be “heads down” doing the work. After all, that’s why these people became a CPA or an attorney. And one of their core values has been that if they do good work for their clients, these clients will refer others to them. In reality, their clients may refer business to them, but may not.

For example, I was working with a public relations firm on their sales strategy. In this firm, as in most professional services firms, there was really no sales team. The partners were expected to bring in the business, and the rest of the office consisted of support and implementation partners. As part of my process, I interviewed people in different roles. Everyone was glad to see me, but one young woman walked in and immediately said: “I’m not a salesperson.” As I got more in-depth into our conversation, I asked her what she loved most about her job. She said “pitching stories to reporters.” Well, I couldn’t imagine a tougher sales job in the world, but in her mind, she wasn’t a “salesperson.”

People view sales as un-professional—they picture a stereotypical used-car salesman. And believe me, I’ve been a victim of that type of salesperson. I have been harassed and intimidated in car lots. In fact, I drove a car for 13 years so that I wouldn’t have to go through that horrendous process again. People’s view of salespeople is that they’re pushy, loud, don’t listen, and have no interest in the customer. No wonder no one wants their kids to become salespeople and why most people—even those whose jobs involve selling—do not consider themselves salespeople. Our profession has gotten a bad rap.

Yet, when I ask people to think of a really good sales experience they had, I always get the same answers: The salesperson asked good questions, listened to my needs, was respectful, and provided a thoughtful solution. Isn’t this who all of us are? I’ve always felt that my job as a salesperson was to give my clients enough information to make an informed decision. I truly believe that customers buy—I don’t sell. This is a fine distinction, but an important one.

The traits of a good salesperson are exactly what we need in business. They are the traits that will help us navigate our company, get things done, make valuable connections, advance our career, and give us the confidence to be a productive employee and team member. Why can’t we be taught to sell in school?

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