Last night I got a phone call from a good friend of mine who has been selling clothing for decades. We talked about a million things until he finally got to the point of the call. He asked me, “What am I doing wrong”?
So here I am, over a thousand miles away, talking on the phone, never have worked with him in the sales field, and not knowing a lot about his type of selling trying to help him answer the question, “What am I doing wrong”. My first thought was to say, “Sorry Lorin no longer lives here” and hang up, but because we were already talking for over 20 minutes I didn’t think that was a very good option.
I started asking him questions trying my best to understand what it was he did in the sales field. He told me about his customers and how they decided what to buy and how many to buy. He told me about his designers and what type of clothes he sold. We talked about the sales call and what steps he used in the sales process. So what I am saying for over 90 minutes I became a little familiar with what he called the “RAG” business. As I suspected it didn’t sound that much different than the diamond business, the pot and pan business or the chemical business I was used to. Not only that, but when he told me what he was doing it didn’t sound that different than what most reps do in the sales field.
Now the fun started. I began by asking what he did yesterday that he hasn’t done before. After several minutes he said that he couldn’t think of anything. I then simply switched the question around a little and asked him what he has done in the past that he didn’t do yesterday? This was a much easier question for him to answer. He told me that he went electronic. Instead of having actual samples he carried his laptop and swatches of fabric with him.
I asked him if this was a company requirement or not and was told no, it made his job EASIER! He went on to tell me how he used to carry 80 to 100 samples and it took him over an hour at each stop to load and unload his car. He told me how heavy everything was and how tired he was at the end of the day. He told me about how easy things have gotten since he went electronic.
I said nothing. I just listened. I let him talk for about 6 or 7 minutes about all this until he said, “Are you still there?” I said, “Yep just too stunned to speak”. He wanted to know what I was so stunned about. I asked him a very simple question, “Have you been listening to yourself?”
It was then that I felt I had really gotten under his skin. He said listening to what? I said what you are doing WRONG!
I hope that by now each of you see what I was talking about. He was successful and one of the top reps for the clothing lines until he got… are you ready for it?... LAZY! That is what I told him he was, LAZY. In an effort to be a little PC I won’t type his next sentence or two. Let’s leave it at; he wasn’t pleased with my assessment. I wasn’t sure our friendship of over 30 years was going to survive this phone call.
I had to do something so I reminded him that he called me and asked for help. I also reminded him that he called me because he knew I knew sales and may be able to offer some solutions. After a couple of seconds (which seemed like hours) he told me I was right and he knew that is what I was going to say. I really wanted to ask him why he called me then and didn’t just correct the problem himself, but figured that conversation could wait until another time.
We sometimes let ourselves stray away from the path to success, knowing fully that we are doing it. His excuse was technology. I LOVE TECHNOLOGY and would like to see everyone use it to its fullest, but not at the cost of success.
There are basic things that we need to do. Some are specific to our products and services and some are specific to our profession. None of these essential items should be taken out of our daily sales presentations, and if we do take one out and see that it is negatively affecting our business we need to be smart enough to bring it back.
To my friend who I hope still likes me, go get your samples and get back to work. To all my friend who are reading this blog, DON’T GET LAZY! Do what you know leads to success!
Lorin
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