If you view it in a broader sense, being a salesperson is a role. More specifically, being a highly competent salesperson involves fulfilling various duties and responsibilities, such as being a great communicator and a good planner. We will discuss the first three roles that salespeople have here, and in the next blog, we will share four more roles they play (part 2)
According to Brian Lambert, an expert in Sales and Sales enablement, seven roles characterize a real professional need that a salesperson must fulfill. Knowing these roles and what they involve will help you understand how to reach a level of professionalism that only some achieve.
It will not be easy, but it will be worth it.
ROLE 1 – THE STRATEGIC PLANNER
The first role a salesperson needs to take upon is being a strategic planner, which means they have to align themselves to the company’s mission and then place their solution in the markets consistently. In other words, a strategic planner understands the company’s mission and long-term goals and then embodies that vision into the solution.
The strategic planner must understand the buyers’ behavior in their territory and identify what needs to happen. Hence, the buyers identify the company’s solution as a valuable solution that can cure their problem.
Other than that, this role involves working well with your team and having excellent and clear communication with the people within your organization who are responsible for informing you about the company’s mission.
ROLE 2 – THE CLIENT-FOCUSED SOLUTION PROVIDER
This role is all about using your gathered knowledge, gathering more of it, and creating a unique approach that communicates value to your prospects and differentiates you from your competitors.
To fulfill this role, you must consider your company’s strengths and weaknesses and what your prospects want and need. Selling is a professional field where you try to get ahead of your competition by creating a value proposition and roughly formulating a message in your head. This role requires you to have a complete emotional understanding of the buyer’s world and also set your creativity free.
ROLE 3 – THE PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATOR
This role is easy enough to explain and involves you being a communicator and, most specifically, a persuasive communicator. Prospects and buyers are overwhelmed with messages throughout their business days. Everybody is trying to sell them something and trying to do so in a way that will get their attention.
You need to use everything you know about communicating, including word use, images, body language, etc., and enclose your selected methods of communication in the most appropriate channel. In other words, it is determining how you should communicate and doing so in a way that will impact the receiver and minimize the risk of them feeling like being bombarded.