Have a Good Pair of Shoes

Dad and a northern at Long Lake

"When you are in sales son, you always want to make sure you have three things:
1. a good pair of shoes and make sure they are shined
2. a good pen
3. a good watch
These three things will give you credibility that you have some sales success and if your customer believes that, they are more likely to listen to what you have to say and ultimately buy from you."

Those were the words of my dad to me when I first started selling Kirby vacuum cleaners when I was 19.
For all the years I've been in sales these words still ring true and have been the basis of some of my favorite sales stories.

Growing up until I was in second grade I always wore leather dress shoes. School. Church. Just about anywhere and to do anything except play sports or something messy.
I don't know why I wore them. I just did. Maybe it was because of my dad.
Like all little kids under four years old, I would wear his hats and carry his briefcase and say I was off to work. Cute kid stuff.

My dad wore good leather work shoes all the time, Allen Edmonds and other brand names. He would even save his old pairs of dress shoes and use those to bike ride, go fishing in,fix the car, whatever he was doing.
Picture a man in his 50's, 60's, and 70's walking around in cut off jean shorts, black dress socks with brown or black dress shoes, and a white t-shirt outside getting all the weeds and grass from between the cracks in the sidewalk with a steak knife and you have a picture of my dad.
While we all thought he looked silly dressed like that, when he got ready for work everyday his suits and shoes were immaculate. There was no doubt that this was a man who was successful in his industry.

When I was 15 and got a job as an usher at at movie theater, a job where I was on my feet all day, my dad told me to get a good pair of shoes.
"Go get a pair of $100 shoes so your feet don't hurt," is what I remember him saying.
At the time I thought spending that much money on a pair of shoes was ridiculous. I was saving for a car, college, going out with friends. I didn't care about shoes. I didn't want to spend a week of pay on something that "wasn't fun."
While I might have thought my dad looked silly wearing his old dress shoes for everything, he never complained his feet hurt.

It is important that I explain this attitude because I didn't just develop this attitude overnight.
When I was a kid my mom  used to take me shoe shopping. Like all moms she was concerned about price versus how long I could wear shoes before I outgrew them.
We went to shoe store and I found a pair of $25 dollar shoes. I was nine. My mom said "I'm not buying you a pair of $25 shoes!" So I found a pair of $15 shoes and showed them to my mom. "I'm not buying you $15 shoes. Find something else!"
I came  back with a pair of $9 shoes. She agreed that was a good price and took them to the counter along with her shoes. Total price of all shoes, $257! I commented that it wasn't fair that my mom could spend $248 on three pairs of shoes while I couldn't spend $25 for one pair and had to settle for the $9 shoes.
I never owned a pair of Air Jordan's, PF Flyers, or any other famous tennis shoe (does anyone call them "sneakers" anymore?). To this day I haven't spent more than $30 on a pair of tennis shoes. Whenever I think about it I hear my mom those many years ago and I find a cheaper pair.

Flash forward to my first true sales job selling Kirby's. I often would walk the streets going from house to house prospecting or doing door-door demonstrations and rug cleanings. At the time my sales manager didn't care what we wore on our appointments as long it was a shirt and tie and good slacks and shoes that were not tennis shoes.
Believing I could get more use out of my shoes than just selling, I bought shoes that were the black leather casual shoes. You know the ones that don't look like a tennis shoe, but aren't really a dress shoe?
I wore those for all my appointments and I was successful selling but guess what, my feet still hurt.

Flash forward a few more years and now I'm working my first "suit and tie professional" sales job. I graduated from the "fake dress shoes" to the cheap versions of wingtips and other dress shoes that you can get for around $30 at the time.
Just like any other profession, sales is a profession where you have to study and practice to get better.
I had been practicing my presentations, closes, phone scripts, everything else that I could do to get better.
I had been out on sales calls with other senior sales people and I knew what they were doing and always thought I can do that and I can be just as good or better then they are.
Most of my clients were bars and taverns where most owners didn't care what I was wearing as long as the commercials I sold brought them customers, since it was dark in these establishments and they couldn't see my shoes anyway I stayed with the cheap dress shoes.

But when I would go on a sales call with a senior salesperson I noticed standing next to them that it was obvious who was the junior sales person.
My clothes were okay but I noticed that other salespeople just had something a little bit extra about them. It wasn't just that they had been in the profession longer or made more money.
It was polish.
This time my dad's words came back to me.
Next pay period I went to Allen Edmonds and bought my first two pairs of "expensive shoes." 
A pair of black wingtips for sales calls, and a pair of black suede casuals that would be good for the casual sales appointments.
I showed my dad and he was proud that I listened to him and told me I would see a difference in how I was perceived by other sales people and clients.

He was right.
The next day my coworkers all commented on how nice the shoes were. The most senior rep, whose name was Scott, even slapped me on the shoulder and said "welcome to the big leagues."
I stood a little straighter. Had a bigger smile on my face. More confidence.
That came through in my sales presentations.
Several additional pairs of Allen Edmonds shoes later I still have that first pair of wingtips (I don't garden in them. They're still just for business).
Clients noticed these changes too, but that is the next story.

Every salesperson I've trained since, I tell them to get a good pair of shoes.
Oh, and guess what?
My feet didn't hurt anymore.
Thanks Dad!
Ev
A Heck Of A Nice Guy's Son