Britain’s largest profession needs an effective institute to see it safely into the 21st century.

Looks like there’s ‘trouble at mill’ at the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management (ISMM) – Britain’s only ‘professional’ membership organisation for salespeople drawn from across the commercial and industrial spectrum.

When veteran ISMM chairman, Sheila Watson-Challis rang up ModernSelling.com headquarters a few weeks ago to bemoan the loss of yet another boss of the institute, we couldn’t help thinking that the organisation must be having rather a torrid time. As they say, to lose one director is unlucky; to lose two is careless; but to lose three in as many years…  what does that say about your organisation?

Strong institute

It is a pity that things have come to this pass. Whatever readers might think about the quality of the ISMM as an organisation, the UK sales profession really does need a strong institute – probably more than one – to represent and promote the interests of Britain’s largest grouping of business professionals.

From the outside, the ISMM has appeared to be an organisation in decline for some time now (even back in the 1980s one questioned its solidity and wondered whether it existed to serve its members or was more self-serving – Ed) and if, it does continue to slide, we will be left with a vacuum.

What organisation will represent the interests of sales professionals in the business world and with government? Who will promote a common syllabus of education and training for salespeople and their leaders? How will we prepare school leavers and graduates to enter a tough and demanding profession?

These are just some of the questions that need answering. Already there are signs that some fledgling organisations are aiming to enter the space, but of those which have gone public, none has yet presented the credentials to suggest it has the experience, track-record or credibility to create a truly professional institute capable of representing the interests of hundreds of thousands of UK sales professionals.

Support

Our view – for what it’s worth – is that we would be happy to support any organisation with the vision and a convincing plan to represent the interests of UK sales professionals, so long as the individuals involved are credible and the funds and support are available to make the institution solid. We’d be happy to support more than one. We’d be happy to support a re-vitalised ISMM or an entirely new organisation – or both – because, currently, the vast majority of sales professionals are not represented at all.

Salespeople have always liked to do things their own way: independence is practically encoded in the DNA of the salesperson, one might say. However, while there’s no denying that salespeople are fiercely independent – they don’t take to being organised – they’re also intensively conservative (with a small ‘c’) – and don’t necessarily adapt to change easily. But adapting to change is exactly what salespeople are going to have to do right now and for the foreseeable future: the world of sales is going through fundamental changes.

Immense changes

These changes are going to be immense – let’s be clear about that! And sales professionals could do with a strong, collective organisation to help them through what amounts to a sales revolution.

For instance, technology not only promises great innovation – social networking, webinars and teleconferences – but it also presents enormous challenges: information overload through inappropriate use of email and the proliferation of blogs and new channels to market or the converse problem of legitimate communication being stifled by catch-all spam filters and voicemail, to name just a couple.

Salespeople are losing control of the sales process: global competition, time and cost restraints conspire to make the life of sales professionals much more difficult than it was even 20 years ago. They’re finding it harder and harder to locate prospects, let alone talk to them and, when they do, many are finding that buyers and decision-makers are not interested in what they have to say.

Out-of-date skills

Unfortunately, many of the skills and ideas being used today actually originated 20 or even 50 or more years ago. Fortunately, today’s successful salesperson has moved on, while the budget-beater of tomorrow will be an entirely different beast, even if she shares some of the drive, attitudes and attributes of her predecessors.

The motor industry and the aviation sector are in chaos – as oil supplies dwindle – forcing us to reassess whether it is economic to travel on business in the same way that we used to. Technology from the web is rushing in like a tsunami to fill its place: we can talk and present to many people across the country (or around the world) simultaneously; consumers are flooding on line to discuss and buy the latest products and services; competition is rampant.

The rep on the road clutching a catalogue and a sample case has largely been consigned to the pages of history. He’s quite simply too expensive to employ and equip, in all but a few specialist cases.  

New techniques

It’s no easier for office-based salespeople. Familiar tools like telemarketing are starting to look outmoded and increasingly ineffective. Legislation and controls are, quite rightly, reining in the worst excesses, while voicemail is the bugbear of every salesperson. Instead, we’re quickly coming to grips with new techniques like social networking, micro-blogging and mining data from the internet.

Yes, selling is quite simply going through a revolution right now.

Diversifying skills

Effective salespeople are rapidly becoming technological ‘jacks-of-all-trades’, tracking down prospects online and learning enough about new web-based marketing channels to re-open the doors which prospects have been slamming in their face, while retaining enough of their telephone and verbal presentation skills for when they do actually get to speak to a buyer in person. But, a jack-of-all-trades has traditionally been ‘master of none’, and that’s not really good enough in the 21st century business world.

Master of all trades

That’s why we need some intervention in the form of a strong sales institute – possibly backed by legislation – to ensure that salespeople (and future sales professionals going through higher education) become masters of all the necessary skills to make them effective in this century’s supremely competitive business world. And such an educational system needs to be a continuing process to ensure our salespeople keep their skills up to date.

Salespeople need to part of this revolution or, alternatively, we can stand by and watch as spectators… and be overwhelmed. We need to understand the processes and techniques that will help us; we need to be ethical and modern in our approach; we need strong professional organisations to support us and ensure we’re equipped with the right attitudes and skills.

Source : Modern Selling

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