SALES CLINIC
you enough to give you another chance.
You let them down a couple of times—or
one big time—and it probably doesn't
matter how much they like you. They
probably stop buying from you.
Please understand, by the way, that
I'm not saying that most printing buyers make their decisions based on price,
because they don't. They make their
decisions based on their expectation of
getting what they want in return for
the money they spend—we can call that
value—and they apply that same expectation to the lowest price as well as the
highest price.
An Observation
I have coached, trained, and managed a lot of salespeople over the last 35
years, and studied even more as they've
attempted to sell various things to me.
Here's an observation: many salespeople
ARE YOU WAITING FOR PUNCHED PAPER...
have failed because they weren't very
outgoing, but many more salespeople
have failed—or at best, underachieved—
even though they were classic extroverts.
Obviously, outgoing and extroverted are
not guarantees of success, but neither is
introverted a guarantee of failure. Because
the rest of my observation is that most of
the great salespeople I have known are
more intro than extro.
I'm not just talking about successful
salespeople now, because you don't have
to be great to make a good living in sales.
I'm talking about people who live to identify and solve problems, which is usually
the foundation for success in a complex
sale. I'm talking about people who work
at their craft, both smart and hard. I'm
talking about people who dot I's, cross
T's, and manage details. People who can
do all that, and who are willing to expend
energy if they have to in order to deal
with the social part of selling, tend to
reach the top of the pyramid. Hopefully,
you see that it's more about the work stuff
than the people-person stuff.
Where Energy Fits In
...OR IS IT WAITING FOR YOU?
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30
QUICK PRINTING / May 2013
Another client recently told me that
he's looking for someone "with a lot of
energy."
"I've had it with salespeople who work
a little," he said. "I'm looking for someone who will work a lot."
I'm all for that sort of energy, but I
think it's important to understand where
energy comes from in the first place. With
extroverts, it comes from the interaction
with other people. With introverts, it has
to come from someplace else, because
the true meaning of the word is often
misunderstood. Introvert doesn't mean
shy. It simply means that an introvert has
to expend energy in social situations, and
then probably needs some time alone to
recharge the batteries.
So here's what I think you're looking
for—a problem-solver who gains his/her
energy from the challenges of selling.
If there's anything natural about salespeople, I think, it's that problem-solving
mindset. ◗◗
Dave Fellman is the president of David
Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC; a sales and
marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact Dave by phone at 919-3634068 or by email at dmf@davefellman.
com. Visit his website at MyPRINTResource.
com/10004781.
w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m