Don't Be That Guy pt. 2

In this post we continue the article by Paul McCord:

9. Are you that guy who thinks he's Capital Ahab, passing by all the small fish while single mindedly hunting for Moby Dick? That whale hunter guy is usually a short-timer. That guy can't be bothered with average sales. They're just a waste of time for after all, all he needs is to land one whale and that will be worth dozens of small sales. While he's out starving trying to land that elusive whale, his fellow sellers are making a good living brining in the fish that are all around. Whale hunters have tall tales to tell when they succeed--but most are telling their tales in the unemployment line.

10. We all know that guy who is a plastic mannequin of a salesperson--the one with all the right "stuff"--the gold watch, expensive car, high dollar clothes. He hangs out at the right upscale bar after work. He's that guy who has all of the signs of success--but none of the actual success. He works one or two extra jobs and lives in an apartment with no furniture in order to be able to afford the appearance of success. He works harder to look like a success than if he actually worked to be a success. Don't be that guy who so desperately needs to be seen as successful that he'll spend all of his time putting on the airs and never has time to actually become successful.

11. That guy can also be an office hermit--so afraid of rejection that he spends all of his time in the office doing busy work and never getting out into the light of day. That guy is a hard worker, no doubt. He is in the office early and often leaves late. He is forever compiling lists, creating collateral material, helping customer service, shipping, finance, the clerical staff and anyone else he can think of. In fact, he is ready, willing, and able to anything that will keep him from having to leave the office. That guy would make an ideal office staffer and might even work well in inside sales, but he is a complete disaster in outside sales.

12. That guy also comes in the form of an old-time gunslinger; shooting from the hip. The problem is he isn't Doc Holliday but is instead Don Knotts' shakiest gun in the west. He doesn't have time to learn anything about the products or services he sells, no time to learn anything about selling, persuasion, or presenting. Nope. His game is to go out and wing it figuring if he talks fast enough and makes up enough crap as he goes along he'll talk 'em into buying. Sales gunslingers end up in boot hill pretty quickly in today's marketplace.

13. That guy can also be the king of discounts, giving away the store to every prospect he comes across. Have an objection? He counters with a discount. The product not right? He gives a discount. Thinking about a competitor's product? Discount. Don't like the color? Discount. Have the hiccups? Discount. To that guy the word margin simply means with space around the edges of his brochure where he can write the newest discounted price he is offering you. In a tough market lots of sellers try to be that guy--don't because they don't last long.

14. Finally that guy is sometimes an eternal optimist, hanging on to every "prospect"--and everyone is a prospect. He'll invest time and effort calling and visiting, he'll do proposals until the cows come home, and he'll give them all the specs and all the quotes they ask for--no matter how poor a prospect they may be; no matter how unable to afford his product or service they are; no matter how direct they have been in letting him know they'll never buy from his company. That guy just won't cut the dead weight out of his database. He won't recognize the tremendous amount of wasted time and energy he puts into non-prospects.

Do you recognize yourself in any of the guys above? I hope you don't but probably 30% or more of all sellers fit in one or more of the above categories. If you are in one of the above descriptions, you're flirting with sales failure for these are the behaviors that lead directly to failing miserably in sales. Don't be that guy. To read Paul McCord's full article click here: http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1714