The Quintessential Salesman

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The Critical Importance of Selling
the "Experience" of the Sale
By Kim Michael Copyright May 2015

For many years in retail it was believed as long as you had the lowest price that nothing else really mattered. In the wake of that ill-conceived philosophy we saw the mega super store arise and over night the: Walmarts, and Home Depots, and Krogers, and Lowes, of the world began to swallow up their competitors.

Then something changed. True the economy went south, but something else changed. All of those mega marts that sacrificed service found themselves loosing market share, and even those who remained healthy knew that times were changing and they would have to change with them or perish.

It has been a long time in coming, but retailers are beginning to see the importance of service minded and service trained personnel. We are rapidly coming to the point where customers will no longer accept rude treatment, or no treatment at all, as a replacement for lower prices. And as stores grow larger, the need for assistance becomes even greater, particularly in the age of the Internet with so many consumer options available. The fact is, the quickest way to an “out of business” sign in the window of mega retail marketing is to think that you do not need the “human” interaction that promotes the ease of “buying”, and the greater management misconception that your employees, even the lower paid ones, can not be taught the basic amenities of human interaction and conscientious service.

There was a time in the not so distant past when I could walk into Home Depot, almost any Home Depot, wander around for literally hours, even pass employees in their trademark orange shop aprons; and not have a single one of them ask if I needed help, or even acknowledge that I was there.

My family had made several large appliance purchases that ended up being poorly installed and even more poorly attended to by the customer service department. Apparently, we like many other consumers, stopped going to Home Depot. With Lowes just down the street why tolerate what we considered an inexcusable attitude toward their customers.

Now that could easily be the end of this story, but it’s not. Something happened at Home Depot. For someone, somewhere in that organization the light came on. Several months ago I stopped in breaking my promise that I would never darken their doors again. Immediately I was met at the door by a young lady with a smile, a thankful appreciation that I had come in, and most important of all, “How can I help you?” Which she also said with a smile.

I was stunned. What had just happened? As I walked around the store every Home Depot employee I saw smiled acknowledging my presence and then asked if I needed help. I ended up buying a lot more than I needed, another by-product of good service.

A few weeks later, remembering my good experience, I went to Home Depot again, another one closer to my home. I needed some custom cut plastic for a project, but my real interest was to see if the Home Depot change of heart I experienced earlier was real, or just a fluke. I walked in just after the store had opened and the manager of the store was meeting with his sales staff before they hit the floor. I thought to myself, OK, let’s see if management had the same prerequisite of good service that I had experienced with the floor staff. My intent was to stroll by, trying not to solicit a response and see what happened. To my surprise the manager stopped his meeting turned to me, smiled and said, “Can I help you with something?”

It turned out that I needed a lot of help and the sales staff at Home Depot stayed with me until it was finished. There is a lesson to be learned here. Good service is the experience we buy, as much as the goods we purchase. And long after those goods are gone, the memory of the experience remains. I think Home Depot learned that the hard way, but they made the changes that will keep them at the forefront of the market instead of trailing it and in so doing made a loyal customer out of me.

The take-away is universal. For anyone who sells a product or a service, a store or an individual, a big company or small--it is important to always remember that you are selling two things: The product and/or service, and the “experience” of that product or service. And if you shortchange the second, it can and will dramatically impact your success at selling the first...ever again.

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Rule of 25

“The Twenty-Five Truths of Sales

I. THE QUINTESSENTIAL SALESMAN - The most crucial element of any SALE, is not the product or service that is being sold…but the SALES PERSON who is selling it.

II. SUCCESS - Success has different meanings to different people. Understanding what success is to you is to know the door you must choose and the key that will unlock it.

III. BELIEF - The opportunity we hold in our hands is what we choose it to be-- and what we become, is what we choose to become.

IV. RELATIONSHIPS - Selling is first and foremost, a human interaction driven primarily by relationships, and our ability to create those relationships. To invest both time and effort in understanding prospects as people is to inspire in them to make the same investment in you.

V. BALANCE - Seek the balance between success and failure; neither the “highs” nor the “lows” of a career should be allowed to define your future.

VI. HUMILITY - I am reminded of the atheist who wakes up every morning and takes a moment to raise his eyes upward and say thanks for the life that he has been given, not because it is important for something, or someone, in the great somewhere to hear it, but because it is important for he, himself, to hear it.

VII. CONSISTENCY - In business you are either moving toward your goals or moving away from them. To remain in one place is to fall behind by virtue of a world that will continue to move around you. Consistency is cultivating the discipline of focus, continuing to do what you know to be right, even when success or failure is not immediately apparent to guide it.

VIII. SELF ADVOCACY – Never expect another person to put your best interests above their own. You must be your own protector, your own motivator, your own inspiration, and above all, your own greatest advocate.

IX. QUESTION – Learn to question everything. It is the doorstep of creativity, the mainstay of truth, and the one true weapon against deceit.

X. INTEGRITY - All that is legal is not necessarily moral or ethical. Integrity begins and ends with the basic understanding within one’s self of what is right and what is not.

XI. PROFIT- The single most important goal of any company or individual is to make a profit. Without profit, there is no equity, no excellence, no integrity, no philanthropy, and no quality. It is the life blood of commerce that makes our jobs, our society and our world possible.

XII. REALITY -It is possible for a company and/or an individual to do everything wrong and still be successful. It is also possible for companies and/or individuals to do everything right and still fail. The most difficult form of success is one that masks all the things you did wrong to attain it.

XIII. LUCK-- People who believe in luck and possibility, open themselves to life’s providence. People who trust in LUCK, commit themselves to the randomness of fate.

XIV. CATYLST - We transmit to others the kind of energies we attracted. Our lives are the true reflection of what we think and who we are, often on a scale far greater than our conscious ability to make it seem otherwise.

XV. COMMITMENT- The best laid plans without a conscious commitment to make them happen are doomed. The road to Hell may not be paved with good intentions, but it is certainly fortified by good intentions that are not acted upon.

XVI. CHOICE--There will always be a better mousetrap, a lower rate, a better price, a smarter person, yet none of these will have an impact upon your own success—unless you let them.

XVII. ADVANCEMENT- Actively pursue your own advancement. Never, never, never, wait for a company, or individual, or an opportunity, to pursue you.

XVIII. FAILURE - You will fail. All sales professionals fail, the best ones find ways to fail less often and learn from the experience. Never let a failure pass without taking responsibility for it and learning from the experience.

XIX. ENDURING - A sale is never over. The validation of a sale, and you as a sales professional, is in the actualization of what you have sold and its continuing value to those whom you have sold it.

XX. PERCEPTION -The greatest demise of those who are highly successful is they make what they do appear easy, masking their true value to the people for whom the effort is spent. Never underestimate someone else’s ability to marginalize or underestimate you.

XXI. PATIENCE- React calmly, never let emotional untruths cloud your perception of events that surround you and be mindful that everything must happen in its own time and not necessarily in the time frame you have set for it.

XXII. EXCELLENCE - The Pursuit of EXCELLENCE begins with; The COURAGE to recognize your weaknesses, the COMMITMENT to change them into STRENGTHS, and the TENACITY to make them lasting.

XXIII. TENACITY - Tenacity is the inability to accept defeat. Tenacity does not believe in “no win” scenarios. Tenacity knows there is always another way, another option, another direction, even if it appears otherwise. Tenacity learns from failure and is strengthened by it.

XXIV. CHANGE - All things change, in life, in business, in nature. To see change and perceive that something has ended or ceased to exist is to blind yourself to its existence in a new form. The face of “need” may change, but the nature of “need” will always remain the same.

XXV. FEAR - The most repeated phrase in the bible is “Fear Not”. It is mentioned three hundred and sixty six times; more than any other single sentiment. The most destructive forces to the human heart are fear and anger, and though anger can consume a mind, it is fear that can consume a soul.