Jedidiah
Balbuena
Kendra
Andrews
Eng.
1102
12/12/12
Successful
Salesmen
Today in America, a lot of businesses and
companies rely heavily on businessmen to endorse their products. These businessmen go about promoting their
companies merchandise all across the country skillfully showing people why the
product they are selling is necessary to the customers benefit. Often times
while walking through a mall, there is always that guy flying that little toy
helicopter around and around your head. How many times have people stopped and
thought, “I need it!” Or, how many times
do you see fragrance dealers let you sample all the different colognes and
perfumes, and then talk you in to buying it? The answer is simple; all the
time. How do these men and women become successful in persuading the general
public to buy through them? Is it experience, or are they simply just born with
the gift of the art of persuasion. Looking through the lives of salesmen and
women will hopefully shed light on this controversy, showing that they both go
hand in hand.
Before looking into the life of a
salesman, it is imperative to look at some of the qualities and characteristics
that they behold. First these sellers must love the idea of selling something
to someone. If that spark is not there, their sales pitch (the presentation of
the product that they are selling) may not seem sincere, thus resulting in
their customers having doubt on the merchandise that the salesman was trying to
sell to them.
Another important characteristic of
a successful salesman is that they need to have a broad knowledge of the
merchandise that they are selling. They will need to know the parts if it is
something mechanical, they will need to know the different varieties if it is
in the restaurant or produce business, and they will need to think about
questions that customers may have, and find the answer to them, before the
question is even asked. For example, if someone is at a car dealership, and is
looking to buy a new Camaro, the car salesman will need to be able to know why
the Chevy Camaro is better than the new Dodge Charger, or the New Ford Mustang.
Why is it more reliable, why should they buy from Chevy and not the other two
competing Car brands? If the salesman does not have a good overall knowledge of
the merchandise, when a customer has a question, and he does not know the
answer, then that may make the customer feel uneasy about closing the deal with
the salesman. For instance, there is a Honda TV commercial about a man and his
wife looking to get a minivan. They ask a car salesman in the lot next to Honda
why they should buy from him. They say that the Honda Odyssey is the best
resale rating based on a qualified web page, the salesman says to not pay
attention to cyber ratings. The car buyers then say, the Odyssey Touring has
the best fuel efficiency for an 8 passenger mini van. The Car salesman responds
by saying not to place value on that kind of information. The irritated car
buyers respond by saying, “We will see you later.” Though it is a funny clip,
it showed that the salesman in this scenario was not able to convince his
customers that his vehicle was better in anyway, because he didn’t know how to
respond intelligently to their questions/facts. It is vital for successful
salesmen to know how to come up with a good rebuttal as quickly as they can,
showing that their merchandise is capable of doing what the buyers are
expecting the product to do.
All of these characteristics are
good; but without confidence and eloquence in speaking, none of these traits
are likely to do any selling. Confidence is the icing on the cake. It gives
people the appearance that you know what you are doing, and it show that you
believe in what you are promoting. If you stutter, or your hands shake, or even
feel a little uncomfortable when endorsing anything really; chances are your
viewers will pick up on it, and in turn lose interest in whatever you are
promoting. This is because to them, you have no clue what you are talking
about, even if in reality you do.
In the book, Closers a compilation of many American writers edited by Mike
Tronnes, it talks about why people decide to become salesmen in the first
place. Tronnes says that for a lot of salesmen, the love of the drive to close
the sale is almost like a game to the salesmen, where their competitiveness to
seal the deal gives them a rush of adrenaline.
This is true in the life of one of my
fellow co-worker’s. Jack Livingston is
by far the greatest salesman I have ever witnessed in action. He works with me
at a local farmer’s market, and his ability to sell fruits and vegetables is
impeccable. While interviewing him, I asked him how he was able to sell our
produce to our customer’s with great success, he answered me saying that he was
able to read a person in the first minute that he struck up a conversation with
them. He told me that if a person seemed confused on what to get, all he would
have to do was throw out a few good recipes right off the top of his head, and
most times they would be willing to give it a try. If the person seemed like
they had a lot of money and they were with friends, he would talk up the fruit
and vegetables almost pressuring the “Wealthy” customer into buying whatever to
show their friends that they could afford everything Jack threw at them. These
are just a couple of techniques that Jack uses on an everyday basis, where
repetition turns his confidence at an all time high.
As I asked Jack if he was born with the
art of persuasion, or if it was something he had to learn, he told me that he had
always been good at selling things, but the repetition of sales five days a
week gave him the experience he needed to be able to read the customers as fast
as he can today.
An example from the book, Closers was when a seasoned shoe
salesman named Marty was trying to convince a young girl to buy a bag that
matched the shoes that she was interested in. What Marty recognized was that he
was dealing with a teenage girl who wanted to look good in front of her peers.
He identified age and gender, and capitalized the situation by showing the
young lady that by spending more money, she could make herself look classier in
her peers’ eyes. This is also an important note that good salesmen will pick up
on. By identifying the customers age gender, style of clothing, and even how
they carry themselves in public, if the salesman is good, they will be able to
take the information that goes with the persons outward appearance and the
stereotypes that come with it, and match it with the product they are trying to
sell, whether they tie in a certain style, color, or texture.
Marty was also encountered a rich woman
with her children. She seemed very uptight and controlling. Because Marty had
encountered this type of person before, he knew what to do. The woman’s young
daughter wanted one type of shoe, but the woman said no, because she wanted her
child to wear a sturdier shoe. The woman then looked to Marty for confirmation,
but instead of just agreeing, he pulled out a different type of shoe that he
was able to please the little girls interest as well as the mothers. Marty knew
what he had in stock, and he knew what the little girl wanted. He also knew
that in order to please the mother, he had to find something that fit her
expectations as well. His job required him to know the different styles of
shoes, and different attitudes of people. He seemed convincing, but his
previous experiences helped him to close the deal as well. Unlike the car
dealer mentioned before, Marty knew how to deal with hard to deal with
customers. He knew how to keep his cool, and did his best to close the deal,
even if he had to work his way slowly
but surely.
Working for an independent farmer’s
market means that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you are on the clock you
are not just working, you are promoting the different fruits and vegetables as
well. I remember my first season working for the farm. I knew that I had always
been a pretty good seller; selling candy, energy drinks, sandwiches, and sodas
to fellow classmates throughout middle school and freshman year of high school.
However, I didn’t really have the experience of talking up my sales, my own
inventory did all the work. When I started working at the farm, I was
introduced to produce that I didn’t know how they tasted, how they were
prepared, and above all I had no clue who the people were buying from me. I was
simply uninformed and nervous. Towards the end of my first season and all of
the second, I have been more confident in my knowledge of the fruit and
vegetable stand, and some of my customer’s have told my boss’ wife who in turn
told me. Though I was good at selling stuff in general to people I knew, I had
to have a whole lot of experience in the new field that I was working in.
I believed that Salesmen are born, born
with the desire and passion to sell. However, research and interviews changed
my opinion. I thought that people were born with the ability to sell or not
sell, and in some cases, I think they are. But for most people, I believe that
experience in the field, and repetition, gives the salesman the confidence
he/she needs to close the deal day after day. Both the experience of selling,
as well as the natural born seller go hand in hand, one cannot simply make it
without the other. As the old adage says “Practice makes perfect.”
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