Have you ever had the misfortune of meeting that sales guy? You know the one. That sales guy. The one who is always on his cell phone. The one who never gives you his full attention. The one who is loud, boisterous, obnoxious, and even rude. The one you don’t want to do business with. To be accurate, we can call him The Sales D-Bag. If you are in sales, don’t ever be the one I am talking about. Here are some typical behaviors of the sales D-Bag, and why you should avoid them at all costs.
• Making your private conversations public: I understand that we salespeople are trained to project, to be clear in our vocal communication, and to command the attention of our prospects. However, it can be easy to forget that, in a public setting, we must adjust our conversational habits. If you are in the middle of an office, or in public, you are not in the position to be making an effective sales pitch, so be considerate of those around you.
o Why you should avoid this: You are interrupting the work and conversations of those around you, and they will immediately be turned off by your lack of consideration. Disrupting your customer’s employees’ ability to work is not a way to keep their business.
• Name Dropping: When you walk into a customer’s branch office to visit and check on how your products are working out for them, the cute receptionist does not care that you were invited to her CEO’s luncheon. She likely doesn’t readily know the name of said CEO. You are not impressing anyone by knowing the names of the so-called “movers and shakers.”
o Why you should avoid this: Many of the people you are likely to meet or interact with on a client visit are not high-powered career types. Recognize that most employees of most organizations just want to do their jobs and bring home a decent paycheck. They don’t care about corporate politics in the slightest. So stop name-dropping and start providing value.
• Flirting with the staff: I had a Sales D-Bag from one of our suppliers come into my location the other day, and he shamelessly attempted to flirt with one of my directs. She was absolutely disgusted that he would try to turn on the charm in a business setting. Save it for the bar, jackass.
o Why you should avoid this: You will look like a jackass. The end.
• Making your private conversations public: I understand that we salespeople are trained to project, to be clear in our vocal communication, and to command the attention of our prospects. However, it can be easy to forget that, in a public setting, we must adjust our conversational habits. If you are in the middle of an office, or in public, you are not in the position to be making an effective sales pitch, so be considerate of those around you.
o Why you should avoid this: You are interrupting the work and conversations of those around you, and they will immediately be turned off by your lack of consideration. Disrupting your customer’s employees’ ability to work is not a way to keep their business.
• Name Dropping: When you walk into a customer’s branch office to visit and check on how your products are working out for them, the cute receptionist does not care that you were invited to her CEO’s luncheon. She likely doesn’t readily know the name of said CEO. You are not impressing anyone by knowing the names of the so-called “movers and shakers.”
o Why you should avoid this: Many of the people you are likely to meet or interact with on a client visit are not high-powered career types. Recognize that most employees of most organizations just want to do their jobs and bring home a decent paycheck. They don’t care about corporate politics in the slightest. So stop name-dropping and start providing value.
• Flirting with the staff: I had a Sales D-Bag from one of our suppliers come into my location the other day, and he shamelessly attempted to flirt with one of my directs. She was absolutely disgusted that he would try to turn on the charm in a business setting. Save it for the bar, jackass.
o Why you should avoid this: You will look like a jackass. The end.
Why is this all this so important? Sales D-Bags are one of the major reasons that the sales profession has such a negative reputation. We, as sales reps, are the constant butts of jokes on TV, in comic strips, and in many other media outlets, and we are widely distrusted by end consumers and business owners alike. My main mission here at People Sales is to improve that perception, and getting the Sales D-Bag out of sales is a great start to doing so.
Do you have any particularly inconsiderate, rude, or obnoxious sales people at your company, or companies you do business with? How about rude and obnoxious people in other departments?
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1 comment:
Very excellent post. I was in a sales position here in Dallas that taught us to be THAT sales person. It was awful.
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