HOW THE SALE WAS WON

Today was a “thinking day” day for me. It was a day where I had several things to do but had a lot of time in between my appointments to think.

My thoughts were definitely influenced by an old western movie I watched last night, because my thoughts were about sales and how they have, and haven’t, changed over the years.

In the movie last night there was a salesman who traveled from town to town selling everything from shoes to medicine (or what he called medicine). In his wagon he had his entire inventory and knew exactly what he had.

He would pull his wagon into town and stop on the street, pull up the side curtain of the wagon to display his goods and start hawking over people. When he had a crowd he would start his sales pitch, explaining the benefits of owning (and using) any one of the many items he sold.

His sales pitch was a work of art, every word practiced and rehearsed until it was a show unto itself. He would select someone from the crowd to sell to and use that person to help him make sales to others. He would move from one product to another with the smooth action of a well oiled machine and never miss a beat.

He never stayed in one town too long because he knew some of the things he sold were, less than what he built them up to be and never wanted to be there when one of his customers discovered the fact. And yet he would come back on his next trip in the area and sell more.

I thought to myself, this is what it was like 150 years ago, when did the game of selling change? At what point did the sales rep see the need to leave his old fly by night habits behind and become the knowledgeable, professional that a rep needs to be today to survive? (OK I know that there are still a lot of reps who are more like the guy in the movie, but I am talking to reps like you, professional sales reps)

I know it was before cell phones and the internet. I know it was before catalytic converters and space missions to the moon. I know it was before the Beatles and even before Elvis.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, I just know it did. Today, more than ever, a sales rep needs to first sell him or herself to the customer. Before a relationship can be built between a rep and a customer trust needs to be the groundwork for the rapport that is established.

Watching that old western last night made me glad I am a sales rep today, not back then. I enjoy the return trips to customers and getting to know them long term. I like having people tell me I was recommended by a customer because of my knowledge and integrity. I love having the opportunity to move past the initial rapport and actually build a relationship with a customer and sometimes having that relationship grow into a long friendship.

The west may have been won with a smooth talking flim flam man in a covered wagon, but today sales are won with intelligent, honest, and dependable sales techniques, products and services that have value to the customer, and presented by a professional sales rep.

I don’t know if tomorrow will be another “thinking day” but if it is I am going to focus on horses and roundups. “Git along lil doggie”

Lorin