I had a really powerful conversation with a friend of mine a few days ago. He’d just left his position of several years, managing a sales force selling to (through) independent dealers in his industry, both small and medium sized. He’d done a nice job. His division had posted nice growth, and he’d been recognized by his company. Yet when I asked him why he left, he had an answer that amazed me.
“I left because I got frustrated. Only ten percent of the people I was dealing with are even relevant in today’s market, and ninety percent not only aren’t relevant, they don’t want to be.” Wow. That’s a huge statement. Not ‘productive’ or ‘growing,’ but ‘relevant.’ When I pressed him for more details, he explained that entirely too many people in his business are doing business the same way as they did 25 or even 50 years ago, and acting like the changes in the business world haven’t even happened. That, of course, put me in mind of our profession of selling and made me wonder how relevant many of us are, or will be. But what does “relevant” mean?
Merriam-Webster defines “relevant” as: “Having significant or demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand.” That’s an interesting definition, isn’t it? If “the matter at hand” is the process of your customers accessing the goods and services that they need and making profitable buying decisions, do you truly “have significant or demonstrable bearing” on that? For too many salespeople, the answer is “no.” Don’t believe me? Think about the last sale you LOST. Why did you lose it? Give me an answer like “price,” or “perceived benefits,” or something of that nature, and you’ve just said that you were irrelevant in that process. Interesting little word, isn’t it?
What if “the matter at hand” is your company’s growth and profitability? Does the meaning of “relevant” change then? If you have “significant or demonstrable bearing” on your company’s growth and profitability, that means that YOU are a generator of new business, a retainer of current business, and a good developer of current accounts into higher profitability. Does that fit?
Or, going back to my friend – if “the matter at hand” is your place in your industry, are you taking the proper actions to stay current and involved, or are you simply riding the train until the track ends?
“Relevant” is actually a powerful word, isn’t it? One of the things we know is that in this day and age, being relevant means staying current and staying on top of the changes affecting our profession. For instance, I sold industrial supplies in the mid-90s. Back then there was no Internet, and to access the goods and services that they needed, my customers had to buy from me or from a competitive salesperson. I had “significant or demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand” simply by taking customer orders and making sure that their bearings and chains got to them when they needed them.
But what about now? I think about myself in that same job, but in today’s environment – and I know that those same customers could just as easily hop on the computer (or smartphone), plug in the part numbers that they needed on my company’s online ordering system, and the parts they needed would get there without my help at all. Therefore, my offering to take an order would be neither significant nor demonstrably bearing on their ability to get their parts.
So, how could I – again, if I were in that job now – be relevant? I’d have to up my game. Instead of worrying about orders, I’d have to focus on providing benefits to my customers by asking lots of questions to keep my customer knowledge current and then keeping them abreast of technological developments, spotting best practices, and finding other ways that they could run their machines more efficiently. That would also keep me relevant to my company because the result would be happier customers, more referrals, a better reputation, more growth within my customer base, and a better platform to acquire new customers.
One of the key battles in today’s quickly changing and Internet driven business environment is just this – to be relevant. If you want to stay relevant, here are five quick steps to doing that.
- Recognize that what got you here might not get you there. It’s an issue I see all the time – company owners and salespeople are married to ‘the way we’ve always done it,’ even when the ground is eroding around them.
- Constantly update your knowledge. You should be aware of the resources available to you and your customers, not only through you, but through your competitors. Your customer is constantly updating his knowledge, and if you’re falling behind, he’ll know it before you do.
- Make good decisions. Not all new technology is good or profitable technology. You have to expose yourself to as many new ideas as possible and then make good decisions about what to implement.
- Commit to personal and professional growth. This might have been #1. Without a commitment to keep growing, both in terms of numbers and in terms of personal capabilities, you’re basically sticking your fingers in your ears and saying, “La, la, la” to avoid hearing the noise around you.
- Invest. Staying relevant is costly, both in terms of time and treasure, but falling behind is even more costly. The difference is this: When you stay relevant and invest, you know when, where, and what the costs are. When you fall behind, you don’t even know the bill is being racked up until it’s time to pay.
Staying relevant is neither easy nor cheap. In fact, it can get really difficult sometimes because you have to swallow your pride. Unless you do, however, your place in the business world might go away without you knowing it.
