Working with our client sales teams, the topic of selling “style” is typically something we encounter. “That’s my style,” “what I am comfortable with,” or “I am just that kind of person”….is usually part of the description.
“Selling style,” or Influence Style, is critical to successful sales outcomes. It is that mix of influence ingredients and how they are used to achieve a desired result. If the influence style is ineffective, ingredients and how they are used are usually mismatched. Just like baking a cake, if you don’t get the “what” and the “how” right, the outcome is not want you intended.
In an exciting study on influence tactics and their associated influence styles, sales performance researchers Christopher R. Plouffe, Willy Bolander, and Joseph A. Cote studied influence styles and their effectiveness. In their study, “Which influence tactics lead to sales performance? It is a matter of style,” they conducted a study involving over 300 salespeople and sales leaders across two industries (real estate and high-end personal fitness equipment manufacturer).
They discovered that “simply employing a tactic – in and of itself – does not appear to guarantee an increase in performance. Rather, it appears knowing exactly how and when to use a specific tactic may be the more important determinant of performance given the sales role.” They point out that “if influence effectiveness is truly dependent upon the salesperson and the selling context, then organizations should also be seriously questioning the ‘one size fits all’ hiring approaches and training programs that seem to abound in the field.”
The results of their study indicated that an effective influence style was essential to top performance, but getting to that “most effective influence style” was not a simple undertaking. A salesperson’s “influence style will allow them to effectively use a tactic that, when used by a salesperson with a different style, reduces sales performance.” However, they caution against trying to train salespeople on adequately using a particular sales tactic – “great care should be exercised.”
The study grouped all the salespeople in the survey into influence style clusters. They found every set of salespeople seemed to be attempting to use at least one tactic that ultimately hurt performance. The takeaway is that “what salespeople think works may not actually work at all.” Sales leaders should continually monitor the influence tactics used by their salespeople. They should use “coaching and training to point out that specific influence tactics, while comfortable and/or logical for the rep in question, are actually detrimental in terms of performance given that rep’s overall influence style and profile.”
When aligned with the selling situation and salesperson, selling styles and tactics enable high performance. However, it can only be achieved through thoughtful, hands-on, engaged coaching and mentoring. Off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all, Economy 1.0 sales tactics, strategies, training, and hiring practices no longer work. The world has changed.