What’s New or What’s Right?

We love fads. We love to love the new thing. We want to know what comes next.

For a lot of people, sales is a fashion business. You always need something new to sell. Because something has garnered enough attention to make it a fad does not mean that it is worth your time or attention. Because something is new says nothing about its effectiveness, nor does it say anything about what is right for you and your organization.

Everybody’s Talking Bout the New Kid In Town

At one point in time, the CRM was the only thing standing between sales organizations and the new revenue they needed. The ability to track relationships and forecast deals was what had been missing and, once installed, better results were certain to follow. For many companies, improved visibility did nothing to improve their sales force’s effectiveness. It did, perhaps, bring an awareness to that issue.

Not that many years ago, social selling was presented as the answer to what was ailing sales organizations. The reason they were opportunity-starved had nothing to do with a lack of effort or a lack of effectiveness. Instead, buyers had changed so much that no prospecting method except social selling could reach these transformed and enlightened buyers. Yet, these same opportunity-starved companies remained in a state of constant of never-ending starvation.

Now comes account-based sales as the tag-along little brother of account-based marketing, soon to be replaced by another fad that will fade just as quickly and be replaced by the next.

Until Somebody New Comes Along

If a CRM system is what your organization needs, then you should invest in a CRM. If your sales force can produce content the likes of which the world has never seen—and your dream clients live on the social channels—then a social approach might make perfect sense. If account-based selling is the answer to “what do we need to do to improve our results,” then that’s exactly what you should do.

But what’s new is not better than what’s right. Before you go chasing some new fad, take a deeper look at what you really need to produce better sales results. Would more prospecting generate more qualified opportunities than a different approach would? Would consistent coaching and development help you grow salespeople who could sit across from their dream client and speak to them as a peer? Would a solid adherence to the fundamentals do more to improve your win rates than measuring those win rates in a new CRM?

“What’s right” doesn’t make the same promise as some shiny new idea. It only promises the hard work that produces the results you really need.