The other day I got a call from my brother. Out of the blue, he’d decided we should take up tennis. Well, the last time I played tennis was probably 15 or 20 years ago, so not only did I need to buy a racket, I also needed someone to advise me on what brand, weight and size to get.

So, I set out for one of our local sporting goods stores. Let’s call it XYZ Sports. Again, I didn’t really know anything about tennis or buying the gear so I thought that they could give me some much-needed advice in exchange for my business. I mean, that’s what they do, right?

I walked in and here’s about how the conversation went:

Me: “Hi, I’m just getting started playing tennis. I want a good quality racket, but since I don’t really know what I’m doing, I definitely don’t want to go all out. I’m wondering what you’d recommend.” I knew that you could easily spend $200.00 or more on a racket, but since I wasn’t trying to be a tennis star, I figured I’d spend – at most – about $60.00 - $70.00.

Salesperson: Blank Stare. He searched the store and, looking lost, finally found what he’d been looking for. A sign hanging from the ceiling that said “TENNIS.” He started walking toward it. Not sure exactly what to do, I followed. He arrived at a wall of rackets with me a few steps behind. Again, he stared blankly…this time at the wall of rackets. There was a pause that lasted for an uncomfortably long time.

Me: (Trying to break the silence and get some sort of response from the “salesperson”) “Yeah, I’m not really sure what I want, but I’m looking at spending about 50 or 60 bucks.” (The amount of money I was willing to spend was beginning to shrink based on this guy’s contribution…or lack thereof.)

Salesperson: “Lemme see if I can’t find somebody who actually knows about this stuff. I don’t really know nothing about tennis.”

Me: “Okay, thanks. Sounds good.” I began checking out the rackets and a few minutes later, he returned. Alone. He picked up a racket and started playing with it.

He spoke again: “I couldn’t find nobody. Here’s one. This is a great racket. It’s the perfect one for what you want.”

Not wanting to point out that a few seconds earlier, he said he didn’t know anything about rackets, I just said thanks, I’ll keep that in mind and walked out after spending (or wasting, depending on how you look at it) 20 minutes in the store and exchanging all of 3 sentences with salesperson.

Morals of the story:

1. Engage your customer
2. Know your product
3. Don’t talk your way out of a sale

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling 3 million dollar capital equipment or a 40 dollar tennis racket. The principles remain the same.

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Several weeks ago, I was entered as a contestant in the Auto Fair in Charlotte, NC, a semi-annual car show that has become one of the premier auto shows in the Southeast. Participation is by invitation only, usually sent out first to car clubs, with the number of entries based upon past participation. This year our PT Cruisers club earned 27 slots.

Photo of Richard’s Car

As is customary, different clubs are asked to “judge” other clubs, using subjective criteria and some formal criteria. Our club could not find any other club to judge. Since we were allocated 5 trophies for 5 categories, we wanted to find judges. After several minutes, someone suggested that I use my sales and sales training background to “find” judges. I accepted the challenge. We persuaded attendees walking by the cars to share their feelings. We did this by selling the benefits of having their opinions.

I approached attendees, introduced myself, and asked if I could ask them some questions about their experiences and perceptions about our cars. Most were delighted and eager to share. I then asked if they would record their feelings. Most were thrilled to express their views. In fact, we had 100 completed ballots for 5 categories for our cars, and were able to award all our trophies to our club. We used a very simple, fundamental process….asking people to buy, rather than telling them what to do.

How many of us in sales have ever “told” people what they should do or “sold” what we had, rather than asking what they needed or wanted? We asked them to “buy in” to providing feedback which is the essence of successful selling. Even at a car show!

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Eight years ago, I left a career as a college football coach to join The Brooks Group as a National Accounts Manager. The founder and CEO of The Brooks Group, Bill Brooks, was actually my college football coach at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY.

Learning about business, our products, services, and clients required time and energy. The typical learning curve in this industry (sales training and consulting) takes approximately 18 months.

One day, shortly after I started my new position, Coach Brooks and I were on a joint sales call and he asked me, “What’s the major difference between coaching and selling?” I thought for a minute and it just came to me. “Coach, that’s easy. Every day is game day!”

In coaching we would prepare all week for a game on Saturday. In sales, to prepare we do our investigation of the prospect, then line up for the sales call. Our success can be immediate (making the sale on the spot) or can be drawn out over time (4 quarters).

Either way, the hard work that’s required in coaching is the same type of hard work that’s required to be a successful salesperson. Every sales opportunity is like a game that is to be won or lost. The successful salesperson understands that any contact or interaction with new or existing clients is game day!

Put this thought in your mind: “Every day is game day,” and you will be taking the right approach to each and every sales opportunity you encounter.

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You’ve been in one Wal-Mart; you’ve been in them all, right? Not anymore.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the world’s largest retailer is dropping its “one size fits all” approach to retail sales. Shoppers will no longer enter a cookie-cutter store featuring the same products as every other Wal-Mart store where they’ve shopped in the past. Instead they’ll discover the retailing giant is rearranging the locations of its merchandise displays and stocking the shelves with products more closely reflecting the buying habits of its local clientele. What’s this strategy mean to you as a salesperson? If you’ve ever thought low price was the only thing your customers wanted, read on.

Wal-Mart built its niche on the power of standardization and the belief that buying in huge volumes could keep prices low and force the competition to drop its prices or go bankrupt. (All your customers want low prices, right?) The plan worked well for several years, particularly in the late 1990s and early part of the new millennium. However, their momentum has slowed dramatically in the last two years, forcing Wal-Mart CEO Eduardo Castro-Wright to rethink his company’s selling strategies in the wake of falling stock prices and a revenue growth slowdown.

Wal-Mart’s new approach is based on categorizing their customers into six different demographic markets and offering them more selection of what they really want, not what Wal-Mart used to think the needed. Armed with detailed information about their customer base, local store managers have been empowered to move merchandise displays to new locations within the store as well as increase, decrease or remove altogether inventories on various product lines.

For example, at one Wal-Mart near Chicago, the manager has relocated his music section to the front of the store and quadrupled the floor space of CD displays. His calculated risk appears to be paying off – sales are clearly on the rise.

Is there a lesson in Wal-Mart’s initiative that all of salespeople can learn from? I believe so. If the biggest retailer in the country can re-think its views on selling, maybe you should too.

Perhaps your sales presentations have become too standardized and lack the flexibility to adjust to the fact that every one of your prospects may want something different. Have you fallen into the rut of “telling” your customers what they should be buying instead of “listening” to them?

Customers want to work with salespeople who ask the right questions, listen to their answers, make solid recommendations and provide outstanding service. If they want an order taker, they can buy all they need over the Internet or through mail-order catalogues.

Perhaps it’s time you take a closer look at your target markets to determine if they can be sub-divided into smaller niche markets for your business. You could find that each niche offers potential opportunities to open doors to new revenues you never dreamed existed. Certainly it’s worth a serious look, wouldn’t you agree?

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