Years ago I did some work on bids for Amdahl (manufacturers of IBM look-a-like mainframes) and the now-retired Sales Director (real old school, brilliant guy) told me this story.
He went to see the IT Director of a major IBM customer and took an Amdahl mug (the type you drink coffee from stupid!) and offered it to the guy. The guy was not impressed apparently!
"I've just saved you £1m" said my friend. "The next time your IBM salesman comes in have that mug on your desk."
If you need ask, your're not in sales.
The second story concerns Leo Quinn and his time at De La Rue. I was lucky enough to be invited to their annual sales conference in Dallas, having just finished the design and implementation of their Opportunity Management process for Cash Systems.
Leo joined De La Rue the day the conference started, so addressed an 'all hands' group of 200 people as the 'new boy'. Having introduced himself, Honeywell legacy etc, he asked the audience to 'raise their hands' if they were in sales. About 50% of hands went up.
Turning to the first person with their hand down he said "What do you do?". "I'm in support, I take calls from customers with problems and help to fix them on the 'phone or organise an engineer to visit them".
Turning to the next person, he asked the same question. "I'm in Finance, I chase customers for payment". The question and answer routine continued for a few more identical conversations.
Leo then repeated his first question - asking the audience to 'raise their hands' if they were in sales. About 100% of hands went up.
If you need ask, your're not in sales.
Of course...everything is sales. All of our interactions involve an aspect of selling and if we pay attention to that, we can be more effective. Don't fight it...we are all in sales...
Posted by: Naviga/SalesJournal | May 15, 2009 at 09:13 PM
Great stories! The second one really reminds us that EVERYTHING is sales! Happy Selling!
Posted by: Avril Shelton/Sales Journal | July 30, 2009 at 08:07 PM