Value Staging Blog

John DeVito

The downfall of many sales managers occurs because they do not understand the underlying reasons behind poor performance.

Fear and anxiety is the one constant that you can count on with sales people. It finds it’s way into everyday activities and at times paralyzes the whole sales team. It honestly  is not something that is readily dealt with because most sales managers do not recognize it,  and the rest do not know how to deal with it. It is the natural fallout of being in a job where your every move is measured by everyone daily, your success or lack of success is known to everyone in the company. This alone creates enough stress to bring on the fear and anxiety. I found the only way  you can deal with it as a sales manager is first to recognize it is happening and then making joint calls to build the confidence of the salesperson. I found it is not so much a training issue but more of a confidence building and empowering my people and letting them know I was in support of their efforts.

The question is, how to use the concept to develop training and then selling it to a world that is measured daily with hard facts.

Adding Value is the Key: The salesperson’s day is filled with Fear and Anxiety. Every time he or she meets someone for the first time there is an element of fear. The only way he can overcome that is to be clear, confident and very prepared to demonstrate he can bring value to that person they are meeting for the first time.

A New Research Study of Fear and Productivity Among Salespeople

Herb Kessner, Ph.D.

Those of us who are engaged in selling services and products, or are attempting to attract grant-funds, loans or equity capital in this economy know how challenging it is. We have our work cut out for us.

Our financial markets are stabilizing and business in general is staging a comeback from the recent sharp downturn. But this is not happening uniformly. While some organizations are well underway with new strategies and competencies, some are still catching up.

Whether we are “officially” salespeople, entrepreneurs, non-profit directors or work for a firm engaged in any form of customer contact, when we are communicating the advantages and benefits of our services; we are selling.

A New White Paper with Implications

Individual salespeople react to fear and anxiety differently. The research study upon which this white paper is based shows some surprising conclusions, with implications for both individuals and sales and marketing leadership.

The goal was to find out, scientifically, how anxiety and fear affected the day-to-day sales calls, contacts and success of the professional salesperson.

The Sales Leader’s Dilemma

It is a given that a sales team’s productivity metrics fit a bell-shaped curve. Some are outstanding, some not so successful, and many falling into the middle. The job of the sales leader (or for ourselves) is to somehow skew the curve to the right. The sales training dollars spent on resulting revolving-door policies extend into the $Billions in the US alone.

It is our hope that this study will help save money and increase the level of success and self-esteem among salespeople and all of us that connect with the client.

Take a look at the Paper on the Value Staging Website, let us know what you think, and most importantly, tell us your own experiences.

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