Corporate Sales Guy

After 18 years in sales I realized one thing. Unless you genuinely like your client and they genuinely like you you won’t sell them a thing. There are always exceptions but this has been my experience for years. So many folks will tell you to build rapport and get the customer to like you. This is 50% of the task, it’s as if they can detect that you don’t like them and they choose to buy elsewhere. (This applies even to the person who can come across as ultra-sincere; it must be a meta-physical thing).

I’ve always walked away from folks that I knew I didn’t like or that I felt would be high maintenance after the deal was closed. The good news is that if you truly like your client you’ll earn their business if you meet their other needs.

I was struck by a comment in Fast Company magazine that really seemed to ring true to me. As sales people and entrepreneurs work towards their goals, I find that they are victims of folks that want to sell them “tools”. In many cases these tools take the form of books, software and seminars. It’s important to have a solid setup and I’ve expounded my love for tools like Omnifocus and GTD but I feel so many folks are producing crap just to make a buck.

When referring to the darker side of productivity, the sad part about this is as the corporate world becomes more unstable, folks are really seeking alternative means to make a living and can be quite desperate and willing to run up a credit card for a seminar that they can’t possibly afford . This is probably why no reader of this blog has been spared the MLM pitch from a normally sane and trusted friend.

I guess the long and short of my post today is to organize, clean off the desk, get those files put away or shredded that are stacking up on your desk. Get the labeler because it makes sense, spend $70 on good software or if you want to eliminate your file cabinet then go ahead and grab a multi-sheet scanner to digitize your files. Spend a day or 2 on this at most and then as Guy Kawasaki says, “Just get going.” No more excuses – if your model requires 50 phone calls a day, get going, if you to increase your networking at events – then grab your favorite shirt and tie (or dress/skirt) and get out there and do it.

Having the perfect setup in the office won’t matter if the core of your sales effort or business is being pushed off for setting up or organizing. I’d love to hear in the comments from folks that had to finally cut the “analysis of tools phase” loose and began to really build pipelines and their businesses!

For additional inspiration on this topic, Merlin Mann writes an amazing article about it called Real Advice Hurts .

As I’ve written in the past – the most productive sales person has their entire day planned out at least 1 night in advance. Preferably more than a few days in advance. I write about it here. I also feel that the best use of time is out in the field in front of clients pushing for the next step in the selling process. But what about those times you have to crank out a proposal or you are working on internal reporting that is unavoidable in a post-sarbanes oxley world? This usually involves being stuck at a desk somewhere home office or maybe the cube farm.

So when we are desk jockying what approach do we take? Should I splurge on the fancy home office with the 3 piece desk complete with credenza and spend good money on a chair etc? I remember reading an article about stand up desks, read about it here. Hard to say, check out the 2 articles (very in-depth and both are very entertaining reads.) Feel free to comment below.

-csg