Road rage is pretty common to most people. The folks behind the steering wheel of their vehicles honk their horns, cut people off, speed, weave in and out of traffic all with the goal of getting somewhere faster and quicker before someone else without any consideration to anyone else. Everyone around these types of drivers view them as ego driven and self centered idiots who are accident creators.

 

The other day while watching one of these road rage drivers I realized that some professional sales people are continually engaged in their own version of road rage – sales rage. These folks demonstrate comparable behaviors and create similar emotions among those watching their sales behaviors.

 

Sales professionals who are engaged in sales rage are constantly speeding and changing lanes. For example, have you ever been at a business networking event and watched someone run from one person to another, busily collecting business cards? Much like the road rage driver, they weave in and out of conversations passing out business cards without caring about if they interrupted anyone else.

 

If and when these sales rage individuals are engaged in conversations, they cut people off by spewing what I call the 3 Ps virus - Product, Price or Proposal. Everything is about them and very little is about the suspect to the prospect. Sometimes, you might even hear a raised voice (horn honking) because the sales rage person is in a hurry and wants attention right now!

 

Sales rage is not just evident at business networking events. While working with my sales coaching clients, I have noticed this behavior respective to the sales process especially the fact finding and the presentation steps. In their quest to increase sales, these individuals literally speed through the sales process.

 

If your goal is to increase sales, check the rear view mirror to see if any of your behaviors are similar to those road rage drivers who very few people really like. Take your time with your qualified prospects (note the word qualified) and do not violate your sales process. (If you do not have a sales process, that may be one reason why you are engaged in sales rage.)