On Overcoming Customer Indecision

We are in an age of change and selling age. While one-half of the living population is grappling with change in their daily tasks, the other half of the world indulges in selling that change.

- Rajesh Nair

Whether it be products, services, procedures and new technologies, none of us are unaffected by the barrage of quantum inflection points in our lives. But some things remain the same. Human interactions in spite of multiple accoutrements and gadgets simplifies itself to the basics. This is also because of the wants of needs of people still following the age-old principles of desire and imitation. As Luke Burgis writes in his seminal book – 'Wanting’, we still build our desires based on what we see around us, the material possessions of others and the achievements of people in all walks of life in our daily view.

Selling as an activity is integral to our lives. Every interaction we have has an element of it. But the dynamics of it has undergone change like never before. Basics of competition has changed as well. I think the entire attitude we have towards sales needs to change. The world is quickly changing and so are the boundaries of influence of corporations. We do not live in the age of limitations where there are limited resources and someone to beat to gain something. The world today is that of inexhaustible treasures. There is plenty and more of the pie. The word competition is also being replaced by co-creation / Co-opetition. Bob Burg and John David Mann, in their seminal series of books and videos – postulate that the secret of selling is to 'GIVE'. Perhaps it sounds more like hyperbole than a fact but I have attempted to decipher it in a previous article. So, I digress. The moot point is the challenge of sales in today’s world.