Adopting vs Adapting in Modern Selling with Dr. Howard Dover
In this episode, Jeff Davis talks to Dr. Howard Dover, who is the Director of the Center for Professional Sales at University of Texas at Dallas. Ten years ago, he founded the Institute for Sales Knowledge and Innovation, which was sparked by his book, “The Sales Innovation Paradox.” They discussed how adapting and adjusting to the natural movement of the buyer is key to standing out in all the noise that’s created in the marketplace.
Dr. Howard Dover believes that every buyer has a preferred communication channel. In order to know these preferences and avoid quota attainment misses, you as a seller, have to execute strategic cadences and sequences that give you insights into buyer communication preferences and styles.
Tune in as Dr. Howard Dover explains how technology changes the way we live and our expectations. He states that technology innovation is occurring all over the place for the consumer and the buyer. That being said, the salesforce needs to learn how to adopt and adapt to those modern technological changes.
Episode Highlights
09:32 – The first thing you have to critically ask is, where did that sales goal come from? Did it come from the your VCs? Like, “Hey, that’s what we need?” Or did it come from a real evaluation of the market potential and your current data, and an understanding of the diffusion curve? Or are we just picking it out of the sky?
29:52 – If you want to be a highly effective modern seller, I would say, agility and coachability are two of the attributes that you need.
54:18 – If a buyer knows exactly what they need, they buy it. They don’t need or want a human interaction, unless they do. So, the buyer is going to dictate whether I’m willing to have that human interaction or not.
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Dr. Howard Dover