Don’t call us Salespeople!

Here’s another example of a well intentioned professional unfortunately adding further negativity to anyone in a sales role. A recent article in the Financial Standard referred to the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief executive Richard Klipin discussing a new education course.

The article quoted the AFA CEO as saying “We don’t call it sales skills because I think our profession undersells or undermines itself with that language. They’re high listening skills, questioning skills and articulation skills to empathise with clients and help them with their journey.”

Now, ignoring the irony that Mr. Klipin sees that referring to sales skills as ‘underselling’ the finance profession (sorry Richard, that’s gold!), the real issue here is not the skill of selling.  The real issue for the financial planning industry is not the ‘salesperson’ tag.  The real issue is what’s driven the financial planning industry toward such a tight compliance and regulatory environment.. .and that is the minority of financial planners who have tarnished the reputations of professional financial advisers with poor advice, a lack of belief in their own value, a lack of confidence, and a focus on pushing commission based product as opposed to selling advice.

This ‘soft sell’ reference is problematic.  There’s nothing ‘soft’ about selling.  That’s a myth!

Successful salespeople, regardless of industry, are confident and competent advisers.  They articulate the value of their advice, not just the products or services they provide, and they never need to defend their value or the price they charge to deliver that value to their clients.

To learn more about myths that can impede the success of a salesperson go to Sales Coach Central’s Report on Selling Truths.