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Selling and the sales process
Find Out What He's Drinking
By Jim Whelan
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Back when I was a mere babe in the woods with regard to selling and the sales process, there was a salesman who had a desk across from me. He was a helluva salesman. He wrote more big orders in one day than I did in a month. And his sales just kept climbing and climbing.
He had a number of bad habits, and he had a huge problem with booze. He drank like no one I had ever been around. He had his detractors in the office, folks who spent a lot of time criticizing everything he did, but the fact was, nobody could sell half as much as he did.
The company had tried several times to make him a manager, and he always refused. He told me once that there are only two good positions in a company, salesman, and owner. Everything else was just bull S.
As I got better at what I did, he took me under his wing.
I don't know why.
He even dumped off accounts on me, raising the amount of money I made.
One day he was out with me, and I was going over some notes about a company I was going to call on. I spent over 20 minutes reviewing what I had, and he was clearly agitated. We went in, and the call went okay.
When we came out he said, "You could of done better if you had just attacked." I didn't get it. "You are complicating the process," he said. "You are waiting for conditions to be perfect, and everything to be aligned.
It doesn't work that way. You take your best shot with what you have at the moment. There are no perfect times, and information is useless unless you can think on your feet. I could study that guy forever but you never know how they are going to react until you start the game."
He told me he never researched a client in his life, and never would. You can't make progress unless you make contact.
So one day I overheard some high bigwigs talking at the office. There was discussion of some of my friends known proclivities, and then somebody I didn't know said, "Isn't he the # 1 saleman?"
This was confirmed, and the next thing he said was, "Maybe you guys should find out what he's drinking, and make the rest of the salesforce drink it too."
That pretty much ended all discussions of my friend's problems.
The lesson is that you can be very good at one thing, and not very good at others. If you focus on what you are really good at, the other stuff will get fixed.
Five years later, my friend put away the booze.
He runs a very successful company, his own.
All the rest is just Bull S...
From the big saddle,Jim Whelan
P.S. Do you want an edge up on your competitors?
If you do, you need to call us right here right now, at 206-407-3124. We focus on what's important, and don't sweat the small stuff. You can also contact us by email at: mediarelations@thejoanrandallagency.com.
