In order to be successful in sales, you need to open up, expose yourself to your customers. Now for all you weirdos out there, I mean expose your life, emotions, and personal idiosyncrancies, and not your flesh. Share things other than how your product works, or what benefits the customer might get from trying your product or service. You need to differentiate yourself. Even if you're just setting up new accounts only, how is the prospect going to distinguish YOU from everyone else? So listen up people, "IT'S PERSONAL".
I'll give you a personal example. Once I was set to conduct an in service, or give a presentation, with another sales rep and we were going to "tag team" the account. I developed a Power Point presentation, ordered all this food, and we were set to go into the call and present together. A few days before the meeting she rang me up and asked what she could bring, and I advised her water or drinks would be good since I hadn't bought any yet. And then as she was about to hang up she said,
"I know just what to bring. I'll bring the water but something else too. Ooooh IT is gonna be good!", and she hung up the phone with a giddy little laugh.
Keep in mind this rep was very pretty, but also very unpredicable so I was a little unclear about what IT was, she was planning to bring. And I thought to myself, "What is this crazy bitch planning to do? Because if she shows up in a trench coat and lingerie underneath, I am definitely going to let her go first."
The next few days were rough because I was concerned about what she was planning to do, and when I called and asked what her IT was going to be, she just answered,
"I'm not telling. I want it to be a surprise!"
But that wasn't good enough for me so I followed up, "Laura your a little bit crazy and unpredictable. So in reference to the IT factor, there aren't any 'toys' involved with this surprise. Right?"
"Oh yes there'll be toys. You'll see.", was her non descript answer and then she laughed and hung up on me.
At this point, I am freaking out, and all kinds of images are trapsing through my mind. I'm picturing her with a dildo, and she's slapping it in the face of the male technicians and the doctors. The make up of the clinic was singularly male, with the exception of one lesbian, and therefore my fears were not wholly unsubstantiated. In my head, I'm seeing her with a variety of weird sexual toys, writhing on the ground with the audience entranced, and behind her I'm reviewing a Power Point presentation on the merits and cost savings of our products. I wasn't sure if we were going to add more business,...or end up in jail.
We were scheduled to meet in the front lobby of the hospital and then make our way downstairs to the clinic. It was raining on the day of the presentation, so naturally she did show up in a full length coat and she was carrying a box. My stomach lurched a bit when I saw that she was also wearing leather boots. They weren't thigh high boots, but they seemed adequate enough for anyone deciding to engaged in lewd conduct. Naturally, my fears were not allayed. She greeted me with a smile and a hug.
" Where's the waters?", I said.
"Oh shit I forgot. Ah once they see this they won't even care about the water.", she responded.
"So what's in the box?", I asked.
"You'll see.", she answered.
" What's the big deal. Just tell me what's in the box."
"No. Besides I can't open it here in the lobby. People will try to take it.'
"What?"
"Can we just go downstairs. We're running late. We better take the stairs, the elevators here suck.", she said and headed for the back stairwell. I quickly followed, and we were on the back stairs, with the heels of her boots clicking loudly and echoing off the walls.
"Did you bring the food?" she asked as we descended the steps. My mind was elsewhere, and I was trying to see down inside her coat. In fact, I deliberately walked behind her down the stairs to see if I could discern what she was wearing underneath.
"Huh? What food?", I responded still trying to peek down her coat and I did see an ample amount of cleavage from my vantage point on the stairwell.
"The food from the caterer." she said, and when we reached the bottom of the stairs, she then turned to look at me and the top button of her coat had come undone, so I was staring directly at her exposed chest. "Did you get a good look?"
"Yes. Yes I did.", I said still transfixed by her open coat, and not listening to a word that was just said.
"You did!" she said obviously offended. I took my eyes off her chest, slid back to reality, and looked her in the eye.
"I was referring to the food. Not you. I took care of the food. Yes the food."
She then giggled and turned around and headed through the double doors into the clinic. I followed feeling embarassed and still nervous about what was going to happen. She came in and the whole room lit up. She walked through the reception area and into the back, putting the box down on the table where the food had already been set up by the caterer. She still had her coat on as she was greeting the doctors, nurses, and technicians, while I walked behind her and offered handshakes instead of hugs. They were more happy to see her than me; obviously.
Finally one of the doctors asked, "What's in the box?'
"Oh you'll see. Let me take off my coat first. It's warm in here", she responded and waved her hand like a fan in front of her face.
"Only since you got here.", one of the techinicians chimed in, and then they all laughed.
"Well aren't you sweet." , she said smiling, and then reached for the top button of her coat. She knew everyone was looking at her, and waiting for the big "reveal". Therefore, she slowly undid each of her buttons, for what seemed like an eternity. As she did so, anticipation from everyone was building, and in the back of my mind I was thinking, "Please don't be wearing just a bra and panties."
Her hand moved slowly over each button, and when she finished with the last button she slowly rolled her shoulders back and slid her coat off to reveal a low cut, very stylish blouse, with a short black skirt, and of course her leather boots. It was a tasteful , yet sexy outfit, enough to show off her body, but not sleazy enough for her to look like a slut. Needless to say, I was both aroused and relieved. But there was still the box sitting on the table.
"Okay, now what's in the box?", the same technician asked.
" I'll show you." was her answer and she seemed way too excited for this not to be the start of some stage performance. I thought I heard the first few chords of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in the background.
She bent over the table, and seem to do it in a way that she seemed all to sexual, as if she had rehearsed this many times before. She obviously knew how to use her sexuality to her advantage, but she did it in a way that was more a flirtation than a solicitation. She opened the box with her backside to all of us, picked it up off the table, and spun around quickly.
"Ta da!" she shouted and held out the box in front of her. Everyone stood up, and looked inside to see a CAKE! A rectangular white cake with all kinds of different colored frostings, and toys all over the thing. In the middle of the cake was written "Happy Holidays!". It was a beautiful cake and I was both relieved and disappointed that there wasn't more in the box than just a cake. But everyone in the room loved it!
"I baked it myself, just for you guys!", she said and set the open box back down on the table.
Everyone gathered around the cake and then each person thanked her enthusiastically. They didn't even notice the mounds of food that were garnered around the open box; just the cake. Each tech, doctor, or nurse, noticed a different toy, or a different type of frosting, and pointed out its merits as if they were viewing a painting in a museum.
"It took me 4 hours to make it, but you all deserve it."
The medical director for the clinic looked over the cake smiled and said, "Sometimes food tastes better if you know who made it. I'm going to enjoy this knowing that it came from you.", and he gave her a big hug.
I don't know what kind of sick message he might have been implying , but if you take what he said literally, he seemed genuinely appreciative that she took the time to make the cake. For my part, all I had done was call in an order, had someone make the food, and even deliver it. I had made a phone call. That's it! And they didn't eat all the food I ordered but there wasn't one piece of cake remaining when we left the clinic. She made it personal and they loved it! That's how to differentiate yourself. MAKE IT A PERSONAL. People appreciate it more if they know you're thinking about them and that it comes from the heart.
It was lesson well learned and more importantly, we got 4 orders from the clinic that day!
Have a great day selling!
-M
