I was driving down a highway in Central Florida when I stopped at a seafood
restaurant for lunch. As I entered the front door, a “pan handler” was
sitting on the curb asking people for their spare change. As I ate lunch, I
could see him through the window, and I thought how distracting it was to
the customers. I wondered why the manager didn't ask him to leave.
The consultant in me emerged — I noticed that the man had a can in front of
him and one out of every four people dropped some change in it. One out of
every four is a pretty good closing ratio in sales. I should be so lucky!
After I finished eating, I walked out the door thinking about how I was
going to avoid him. I was dressed extremely casual as my whole day consisted
of simply driving from Point A to Point B. On this particular day, I was
wearing old jeans and a sweatshirt full of holes. As we made eye contact, I
made a spur-of-the-moment decision to sit on the curb next to him. For the
next 30 minutes, I learned five lessons that will stay with me for a long
time. Because of those 30 minutes I am not only a better salesperson and a
better consultant, I am a better person.
Lesson One: Understand how they
feel. I learned was how it feels when someone thinks you are a bum
asking for a handout. It was a strange feeling. I wanted to tell these folks
who were walking by that I was not with this guy; I was just talking with
him. I am not a beggar; I work for a living. Some of them looked disgusted —
it was as if they were silently telling us to get a job. One irate man said
that he would give us a couple of bucks but he rudely accused us of being a
couple of drunks and the money would just be wasted. Some people avoided eye
contact with us altogether. Perhaps they felt that if they locked eyes with
either of us, they would feel obligated to put some money in the can.
After the first five minutes, I became less concerned about what people
thought. They don’t know who I am. They will never see me again. I wondered
what they would think when they see me walk over to my rental car and put
the top down on my convertible! It is hard to put into words the
transformation I went through after I told myself; “So what if they think
I'm a bum — that’s their problem, not mine!”
I may have adjusted a lot quicker than the average person because I had
sales experience I could draw on. One of the most difficult obstacles a
beginning salesperson has to overcome is the concern he or she has about
what people will think of them. If you in sales and are not making the calls
because you are worried about what someone will think about you, here is
some important insight: they are not thinking about you. They are thinking
about themselves. Do you think the people who walked by me went in the
restaurant and thought about me during their meal? The amount of time they
spent thinking about me could be measured in fractions of a second. Yet,
most of the reason many sales people do not reach their full selling
potential is because they are dominated by this concern about what people
will think.
Lesson Two: Set the stage for the sale. One out of every four
people dropped some change in the can. I thought that was really
interesting. He didn’t even have to say anything, the can was the
presentation! The can did the job for him. He completely set the stage for
the sale. He was appropriately dressed to look like a street person. There
was no question about it. His old sneakers, his faded shirt that was covered
by his sleeveless sweater, his baseball hat, and his unshaven face all
created the perfect appearance of what the ideal homeless person looked like
in the eyes of his “customer.”
Because of the carefully designed “theater” he set up, one out of four
were convinced that the right thing to do was to help him (us) out. This was
an interesting observation. In my experience, if you look like a
salesperson, the sale is harder to make. If you look like someone who is
there to help solve a problem, you successfully set the stage for a sale and
it comes much easier. Try changing your image from a stereotypical
salesperson to a problem solver and see how much more receptive your
customers will be. When you go to the gatekeeper and ask to see the manager,
don't introduce yourself as a salesperson. Instead, introduce yourself as a
problem solver. When asked why you need to see the manager, answer by
telling them you don’t know until you ask them three simple questions and it
will take less that three minutes.
Lesson Three: Show sincere appreciation. He thanked everyone. It
wasn’t just the words, “Thank you,” but a sincere “I really appreciate it —
thank you.” He made them feel good about putting money in his can. People
like to help other people, or at least one out of four do, as my research
proved. Did you ever wonder what people think about after they buy something
from you? They don’t really expect any gratitude on the surface. However,
deep down inside they are screaming to be appreciated.
It is very rare for us to get the red carpet treatment from anyone. I
recently visited a store and was shocked by the excellent service. Someone
met us at the door, escorted us through the aisles, answered our questions,
and gave us snacks to eat while we were shopping. When we checked out, you
won't believe what happened — they wrote down our name, address, and
birthday. Two days later, we got a thank you card in the mail, and a
birthday card followed a few days before the big day. Now, the thing that
made this so special was “we” were my dog and I. It was a pet store and that
is how they treated my DOG! Can you say you provide the same customer
service — REALLY?
Lesson Four: I have nothing to complain about. Here is his story.
His name is Ralph and he lived in South Carolina. He lost his job and on the
very same day, his wife left him. She cleaned out their apartment and their
bank accounts. Next, she maxxed all the credit cards by taking cash
advances. He was left with the clothes he had in the apartment closet and
about $20 in his pocket. He had no family, so he packed a small suitcase and
went to the local truck stop where he hitched a ride to Florida. He had been
there a month when I ran into him.
I asked him all the questions you would ask. Have you looked for a job?
He said, “I can’t even get a job as a day laborer without a Florida address.
I have no transportation, no place to live, no friends, no credit, and no
money. All I can do is find some place to set up for the day and see if
enough folks will help me so I can buy a meal.” He spends every night trying
to find a place to unroll his sleeping bag. The lesson that Ralph taught me
was this: I have absolutely nothing to complain about. Nothing! I stood up
to leave, opened my wallet, and gave Ralph a $50 bill. That was by far the
best sales, marketing, and motivation training I have ever received in my
entire life.
Lesson Five: Know what you are talking about. Even though I talked
with Ralph for 30 minutes, and for a moment, knew the feeling of what it was
like to be perceived as a street person, I couldn't begin to describe what
it must be like to live on the street.
Why?
Because it is impossible to describe a place you have never been. Before
someone assumes the role of teacher, trainer, salesperson, or consultant,
they must know — really know — what they are talking about. They cannot
spend 30 minutes next to a customer on a curb asking questions and think
they know what it is like to have the problems they are dealing with.
Here is an example of how important knowledge is. Take the manager of a
school cafeteria, for instance. The holidays are approaching and the manager
decides to cook turkeys for the school kids. The turkeys are stuffed the
night before and put in the refrigerator overnight. The result: putting warm
stuffing in a cold turkey overnight causes botulism spores to grow and
create a toxin that cannot be killed by cooking. If the stuffing contains
onions, they will accelerate the growth of the spores. The turkeys are
cooked the next day and the school kids get sick. If they are not rushed to
the hospital, the toxin will cause the children to die with botulism
poisoning. While the manager’s job seems simple, he must know that the
simplest details have life-altering results. Anyone who serves him must
understand the complexity of the decisions he makes on a daily basis.
Anything less is the same as trying to tell someone how it feels to live
on the street based on a chance conversation with a person who IS living on
the street.
