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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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great story, Mike. “You need to cultivate a relationship…” That right there says it all.
When I got started, I didn’t know the first thing about sales. I just knew I had something to offer that I though was pretty good, and liked to talk to people about it. Later on, I read a bunch of macho sales guy stuff and tried being a hot-shot-know-it-all jerk. It didn’t feel right, and it sure as hell didn’t seem to work. So I went back to being a funny guy, kind of a smart ass, and told stories – and most importantly, listened to the stories others told me.
That’s my definition of “sales and marketing.”
I’d say that was a great definition, Tony.
I sit for hours each week and listen to stories and leave with Purchase Orders for the use of my time.
Telling and listening to stories are sure ways to more sales, bigger sales and easy sales.
Mike, I loved this article, probably because it closely aligns with my own point of view! My first outside sales job (door to door) taught me an important lesson that supports your writing.
Knowing nothing about sales, I decided to mostly keep my mouth shut and let the customer talk once I got through the front door. To my surprise, when they ran out of things to talk about they ALWAYS asked about what I was selling and inevitably placed a bigger order than I expected. I ended up as the top salesman in the office in one week!
I realized that every sale has a balance. Push too hard and you’ll meet resistance, push too little and you’ll never make a sale. It’s the reach and withdraw that allows you to create a relationship with the customer.
You’re doing a great job Mike, keep it up.
Dan
Danjacobsmusic.com
Thanks Dan.
You’re story and affirmation is more compelling than my post. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to add to the conversation.
A LOT of salespeople never learn that silence is truly golden.
Sitting at a negotiation table with a smile and silence is the simplest way to win more than you have the right to.
Kinda like in poker.