As he walked into my office, there was something in his eye that I didn’t like.
The look he gave me was hard, questioning and unfriendly. It felt like the look I should have been giving him.
He was a fairly new, fairly young salesman. Someone had given him some bad advice as to how to begin a sales presentation.
I listened to all of the junk coming from his face that I could stand and started to send him on his way. I felt, for a few seconds, like leaving him with that quizzical look on his face. He had no idea why I had given him the boot without hearing his whole spiel.
But then something came over me. I’m getting soft in my old days I guess. After all, I’ll be 44 in a few weeks.
” You looked me over fairly hard when you walked in, didn’t you ? “
He said yes, and that he always does it.
” Well stop it. It’s costing you sales … like it did just now. “
Huh ? I was just sizing you up. Seeing what kind of guy you were.
” That’s my job, young fella, not yours. I’m the customer, so I’m the boss. I make the decision as to whether or not we do business, not you. “
He was having trouble with the whys and how comes, so I tried my best to explain it to him … simply. You know I love simple.
” You need to cultivate a relationship with each prospect. You need to look like someone I can trust you and feel confident in. Be alert. Be friendly. Be impressive. Be at ease. Don’t do anything that will put me on the defensive. Don’t make me suspicious. Try not to make me dislike you. Give me the chance to favorably size you up, not the other way around. ”
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