Good morning Everyone,
Hopefully you are in an area where it is getting warmer out for spring finally. Here in the mid-west it is still cold and in some parts getting snow. I can remember when I was in elementary school being able to wear shorts by the end of April. Granted some people when it hits 50 degrees will put their convertible tops down and ride around town. We have yet to hit that mark here. I am sure those of you in Alaska are in the same boat. Although some times I noticed it was warmer in Alaska than the mid-west in the past few winters.
I’m not a meteorologist but did learn to watch weather patterns in the areas that I worked selling outdoor power equipment. We had to because not many landscapers wanted to mow lawns when it was snowing or when there was a thunderstorm. The same token would be that no landscaper wants to test out snow plows when it is 80 and sunny. Although that is when the dealers would have to place their winter orders. I guess it follows the clothing industry as well. That is when you see summer clothes out after January in department stores.
Today I would like to talk about some bloopers and set backs to make sure people know that I am human. I am not some super sales person that is perfect. I know a lot of people shy away from showing set backs or bloopers, but I am not one of those people.
I have demoed mowers on slopes and put them in the water having to take off my shoes and roll up my khakis to push it out of the muck and watching for gators, I have called people by the wrong name, I have missed the steps in the sales process, etc. Luckily no gators were looking for me to be their mid-afternoon snack and that the person with me did not take a selfie with me in the background. I remember one time not paying attention to my display when I first started in sales which lead to a conversation with my boss that was not very pleasant at all. Also getting into sports talking about your team is not recommended if you football team consistently beats the potential customer’s favorite team.
I have been in negotiations that went south in a hurry with people calling each other liars, had runs with potential customers making me sit in their location and waiting to talk to them just to see how long I would stay only to say, they had another appointment and would be leaving (he later ended up being one of my best customers), I’ve filled up my work truck with gasoline when it took diesel. I realized that one as I was pumping the gas thankfully.
The key takeaway is that we typically learn through set backs better than successes. I learned to not get as close and to walk the are before demoing landscape equipment just like a racer will check out a track. I learned to make sure I did all the remedial items when visiting customers before trying to get more business from current customers. I learned how potential customers schedules functioned so that I could optimize my time with them. Use these set backs to come back stronger and refine your strategy. Make sure that you when you have a set back that you are looking how you can get better.
As always if you have questions, want to dig deeper, or if you would like to ask about other topics feel free to reach out to me at info@kevinsidebottom.com. Also you can comment to the blog to keep the conversation going with other readers.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
Sales and Leadership Enterprises