Toughest Sale on Earth May 27, 2009

I was in Washington, D.C. recently, getting a new passport.  I had some time to kill and decided to go to a sandwich shop grab some lunch and sit outside.  I watched a young man who easily has the toughest job in the world.  You see, he was a street beggar.  We will call him “George”.  Not your normal dirty, sun-burned, “I-live-on-the-street” kind of beggar, but a clean, my-clothes-have-no-wear-spots-or-holes-and-my-shoes-are-modern kind of beggar.  I think he could have been let go from a job recently or had not spent much time on the street.  Maybe he had a menial job and wanted more- I had no way of truly knowing.  His appearance was clean, his clothes were not worn, his shoes were clean and business like, he was clean shaven and he had neat hair.  Either way, he had the toughest sale on earth.  He wanted you to give him money, shoes, or clothing for nothing in return.  I was maybe 20 ft from him and heard him change his pitch several times, from ” can you spare some change?” to “want to trade shoes?” to “how about buying me some lunch?”.  He noticed you before you noticed him and he had a line for anybody that showed any eye contact or opportunity.  But he didn’t ask everyone.  He clearly had a strategy to notice if you were going to let him into your brief public moment together.  Now granted, he had zero succes while I watched, but I am sure his persistence paid off.  He did not come off as offensive or crazy or dirty or antagonistic, he was just asking everyone he could for help.  He was on a corner without any other competition around.  It was just him and you.

This made me reflect on our sales executives and their focus and design:

1. Do you have the conviction to sell when all is bleak?  Can you really keep asking for the order when you rarely get a “yes” ?  “George”, my street person certainly cared little if he got a “no”, he was playing for a “yes”.  How thick is your skin in tough times ?  To succeed in tough times in sales you need to be hard-headed and stubborn and love pain, believe you are doing the right thing and continue on the right path regardless of the chances to deviate.  Ignore the failures, seek the successes- that’s how you win. 
2. Can you see where best to spend the effort? ”George” watched you closely and determined if you were a candidate for a pitch.  He never asked a woman if he could trade shoes, he asked men with shoe sizes approximating his.  He never asked a person who was distracted doing something else.  Talking on the phone? George never bothered you.  How can you be selective in the selling process and still be effective in atempting enough contacts?  Do you know how to qualify a prospect? Can you visibly notice what level of engagement your prospect will provide? Can you change your pitch, your close, your process to better your chances of a “Yes”?
3. Are you smart enough to know where to go, how to look, and what to say?It seemed to me “George” had staked out this corner planter because of the foot traffic he saw while there and little competition from other street folks.  He had  on a modern shirt, clean jacket, modern pants and shoes, so he obviously planned to not look like a down-and-out street person.  He clearly had enough pitches in his back pocket to satisfy different kinds of potential customers.  His preparation was fantastic.  It makes me wonder how preapred our people are for the challenge of selling.  Are we paying enough attention to the details?  Are we correcting the elements that need changing or accepting them because their strength lies elsewhere?  Are we coaching and training enough to allow our folks to have a constant selection of different approaches available for different customers?  Once again we are reminded how preparation cannot be taken for granted.

I didn’t see “George” several hours later when I emerged with my passport, but I am sure he was on the hunt for a new, more fertile ground of hope for himself.  I think of him often and wonder how he’d do selling my product?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.