Friday, August 11, 2017

My favorite sales lessons from a sales guru

Working as a wireless consultant (cellphone salesman) at a Verizon retailer, I was always seeking advice from salesmen I viewed as legitimate; honest.  I had a mentor in the years that I worked there an I still keep in touch with him today.  His name is John and he worked at the Ann Arbor location for 10 years and now works in East Lansing.

John's customers would always walk out of the door happy after working with him and John always kept a professional, yet charismatic/goofy attitude.  The fact that he could stay goofy and perform well at his job is what made me interested in him as a mentor.  I have worked with countless sales reps that made more money than me, and even John in some cases, but I must say that they did not share the same level of transparency as John has.  To be perfectly honest, I believe he may be in the wrong industry as far as fully utilizing his skillset goes.

Anyway, John taught me a couple of mantras that have helped me stay focused as a salesman, because let's face it, sales is everything.  Here are two of my favorites:

"Underpromise, overdeliver"
I never want to be 'that dude' who appears cocky, arrogant and overly confident.  These people tend to overpromise.  The problem with this (especially as a procrastinator) is that you are setting the bar so high that you may not be able to reach your goal; close the sale.  It's not to say that you shouldn't set the bar at all, but modesty and humbleness are, to me, the most important characteristics of someone that I trust and respect.

"Well, we are a privately owned, for-profit business."
This sounds like it should never be said, and on paper, it seems very abrasive and something that you should never say to a customer.  99% of the time, you shouldn't.  However, in sales, especially B2C, you will occasionally work with a customer that is never satisfied on price.  There are several things that should be said before you say the above quote, but it is an excellent last resort card, especially when you are a people-pleaser.  The bottom-line is that if you are being paid commission, and have challenging KPIs that you need to hit (and in this case, hitting all KPIs can make up 25% of your check), there is a line that you need not let anyone cross when 'laying down' can make you miss out on 25% of your check.

Ultimately, the lesson is to keep your customers' needs in mind, but don't forget about the mission of your company, and more importantly, your mission as a person.

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