A magazine publisher brought me in as a consultant to help their sales team (my sweet spot!) ramp up revenues.
During the initial phase, I spent some time with each of the individual salespeople to talk to them, assess their skills and attitudes, and generally get a feel for whether or not they are really right for the publication and the sales task at hand.
One of the younger men on the team came into the small office I was using and sat down. He wasn’t an impolite fellow, nor a poorly dressed one (although he was a bit casual, even by my standards), but he had two of the biggest decorative ear plugs I’ve ever seen. Not the kind that you wear to prevent hearing loss at a rock concert, but the ones that are worn in the ear lobes as a fashion accessory. These were so large that they had actually grossly stretched the natural length of his ear lobes.
And can you believe it? As small as his sales goals were, he had never achieved a monthly goal. Ever!
Now I completely respect anyone’s right to express themselves as they see fit.
But people are strange, especially buyers in the business world. They tend to believe people with shaggy beards, atypical body jewelry, copious tattoos or fashion sense that is less than conservative could not possibly be professional.
Is that fair? Probably not. But it is reality.
So you might want to think twice about those fashion choices before you start making appointments to sell, because you will probably sell much less than you could simply because you don’t conform to what other people think you should look like as a professional salesperson.
Yep, people are strange like that.
© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications
THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.
During the initial phase, I spent some time with each of the individual salespeople to talk to them, assess their skills and attitudes, and generally get a feel for whether or not they are really right for the publication and the sales task at hand.
One of the younger men on the team came into the small office I was using and sat down. He wasn’t an impolite fellow, nor a poorly dressed one (although he was a bit casual, even by my standards), but he had two of the biggest decorative ear plugs I’ve ever seen. Not the kind that you wear to prevent hearing loss at a rock concert, but the ones that are worn in the ear lobes as a fashion accessory. These were so large that they had actually grossly stretched the natural length of his ear lobes.
And can you believe it? As small as his sales goals were, he had never achieved a monthly goal. Ever!
Now I completely respect anyone’s right to express themselves as they see fit.
But people are strange, especially buyers in the business world. They tend to believe people with shaggy beards, atypical body jewelry, copious tattoos or fashion sense that is less than conservative could not possibly be professional.
Is that fair? Probably not. But it is reality.
So you might want to think twice about those fashion choices before you start making appointments to sell, because you will probably sell much less than you could simply because you don’t conform to what other people think you should look like as a professional salesperson.
Yep, people are strange like that.
© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications
THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.
