Why is sales such a dirty word in the UK?

7th
APR

Why is sales such a dirty word in the UK?

Posted by Michael under Business Growth, Leadership

A recent thread in the IoD forum raised the question of ‘sales’ which is often a word that causes British businesses to shuffle their feet. Why is ‘sales’ a dirty word in the UK, when it’s not in other parts of the world, and what can we do to address the problem?

First, the historical perspective – the UK has not always been bad at selling its goods, or itself. The empire builders of the Victorian era had many faults but self-doubt was rarely one of them, and the UK in the Swinging Sixties, from London to Liverpool was an exporter of fashion, music and luxury goods as well as a powerhouse of technological innovation – so what’s changed?

What are the problems we experience?

A whole range of issues were raised during the discussion:

1.    ‘traditional British reserve’
2.    the fact the UK education system does not recognise sales as a skill set, teach it or support it with academic training or research
3.    the negative way that people in the UK respond to the word ‘sales,
4.    the low value given to sales training and problem solving selling which results in poor sales people giving inappropriate ‘hard sells’
5.    UK salespeople being one-dimensional and difficult to deal with, also that they are rewarded in the short term and differently to their colleagues so it’s in their interest to ‘sell and run’ to make targets because somebody else in the company has to deal with any shortfall in expectations or performance in the long term.
6.    The problem is seen by some as an urban myth – they find no problem generating leads and sales and think it’s just a story told by bad salespeople to excuse their performance

What can be done to correct these problems?

The solutions were commonsensical and innovative at the same time – it seems that many businesses are clear about what needs to happen, but government and academe aren’t necessarily listening.

•    More focus on lifetime relationships and solving problems, not hard sell and run
•    Teach salespeople to map the decision-making process so that the customer gets the right information in the right order at the right time to allow them to develop trust. It’s not the same process of every customer at every time and understanding it helps serve customer interests and business profits.
•    Look at other cultures – in America, if you have a good business proposition you don’t hesitate to reach out to new clients or new partners and you’ll generally be given a hearing if it seems you are offering something of value. By contrast many British businesses seem to rely on familiarity and loyalty rather than expansion.
•    Find ways to get sales on the UK curriculum at all levels, as a career, as a research topic and as a philosophy in business schools.

Happy/unhappy salesman courtesy of petesimon

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